Code Geass: Zero's Revolution
by King Draconias
Summary: Rebellion – A violent act against the established order : Revolution – A widespread and wide-reaching change, for better or for worse. This is the tale of Lelouch taking up the mask of Zero to become a revolutionary for the world, instead of simply the leader of a rebellion for Japan. Witness the evolution of Zero as he changes the world. This, is the tale of Zero's Revolution.
1. Prologue: The Bond Between Siblings

"I hereby renounce my claim to the throne!" – Regular speaking

'_How dare the Emperor abandon Nunnally!_' – Regular thinking; Italics not in singular quotations are used for emphasis

"Q-1, strike the left flank now!" – Speaking as heard over radios and other communication devices

"**Lelouch vi Britannia commands you, DIE!**" Speech influenced by using Geass

**Disclaimer: I don't own any franchise that is used in this story nor do I make any profit from it whatsoever.**

I hope you enjoy the story.

* * *

**Prologue: The Bond Between Siblings and the Fall of a Prince**

* * *

(Pendragon, Britannia – Aries Villa – 7:38 pm – October 11 – 2009 a.t.b)

Dead. _Murdered_.

Lelouch was in shock. One second he was watching his mother – _his amazing, loving mother_ – twirl Nunnally – _his beloved little sister_ – around on the staircase of his home. Moments before he had been running down to join her and Nunnally so they could continue their game of hide and seek with Anya. And the next second, countless bullets flew through the glass windows in the ballroom of the Aries Villa and the air, shattering countless antiques, sending colorful glass shards flying through the air and – _his mother was gone, gone, Gone, GONE!_ – Nunnally was covered by _their mother's body!_

Lelouch was trembling, his face contorted in fear as he stared at his mother's cooling corpse laid over Nunnally as if to protect her from some unseen threat. '_This – this can't be real. This just has to be a bad dream. It just has to be! Just one terrible, horrible nightmare! Please let this be a nightmare! Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease! Oh God, why can't I wake up?!_' Suddenly, Lelouch's trembling body stilled as the fact that this was reality and not just a terrible nightmare sank into his panicking, racing mind. '_This is real… Oh God this is real! NononononononononoNO!_' "Nunnally!" Lelouch _screamed_ as he sprinted as fast as his eight year old legs could carry him down the staircase.

As if his voice were a signal, the guards of the Imperial Villa started barking orders over their radios and the guests started running around panicking, trying to find places to take cover from a possible second attack. While the guards started to try and restore order and the guests panicked wondering if they were going to be targeted next, Lelouch ignored everything going on around him as he knelt down next to his mother's body – _gone, gone, GONE!_ – and pushed the corpse – _Oh God that was his mother!_ – off of his little sister's shaking body and cradled Nunnally's trembling form as best his own shaking arms would allow him to.

"Oh God, Nunnally please don't die. Please don't die! Don't leave me too!" Lelouch begged as he choked on his tears. He prayed to whatever deities that existed to _not take his sister away too_. Her head turned to face him as tears ran down her cheeks from her shaking eyes.

"Big Brother?" Nunnally's voice was choked, as though she were having a hard time speaking. Lelouch choked out a half-sob as he tried to sigh in relief but found himself unable to as Nunnally lurched toward him and grabbed onto his formal clothing that his mother had insisted he wear that night – _his mother who was dead!_ – and latched onto him in a tight hug as though she feared Lelouch was going to leave her too.

Nunnally buried her face in Lelouch's chest while Lelouch nuzzled his face in Nunnally's hair and returned Nunnally's embrace with equal intensity as the two siblings held onto each other, desperate for reassurance that the other was still alive to give the other comfort as they wept. Soon though, the emotions proved too overwhelming for the two vi Britannia siblings' young minds and they passed out on the stairs of the Aries Villa. The two siblings fell into a fitful sleep, unaware of just how much their lives were about to be changed.

* * *

(Pendragon, Britannia – Aries Villa – 10:02 am – October 12 – 2009 a.t.b)

In his bed, Lelouch tossed and turned in a fitful mockery of sleep. His body lurched up in reflex before his mind became fully conscious. "Nunnally!" He screamed in a voice filled with terror. His eyes flew open, taking in his surroundings as he realized he was in his lavish bedroom and not in the ballroom where his mother was killed. He started to shiver, his blood feeling cold as he recalled the nightmare he had after he had fallen asleep.

The previous night's events had played out in his mind, while he was trapped in his body, forced to watch as his attempts to take control and keep Nunnally and his mother away from the ballroom failed, as though he could rewrite the past by preventing his mother and sister from replaying the tragedy all over again. The only difference was that Nunnally hadn't been spared. When he ran down to see if his little sister was still alive, she hadn't responded to his voice. She had been cold and dead just like their mother and he screamed as he realized that the nightmare from the previous night could have been far worse. At least in reality, his beloved little sister was still alive.

Lelouch straightened as he realized something was wrong. '_Where's Nunnally?_' Where was his little sister? Lelouch jumped from his bed and ran to his bedroom door.

As he threw the door open, he shot forward and ran directly into someone's legs. He grunted as his tiny body fell backward after running into his accidental obstacle. He looked up to see a woman with light violet hair arguing with someone dressed in the uniform of his mother's guard. As the woman turned to see what had bumped into her legs, Lelouch realized that the woman was Cornelia li Britannia, one of his many half-sisters, but one of the only ones he was actually close to.

"Leave us." Cornelia ordered the guard.

The man looked like he swallowed something sour as he tried to protest. "But Your Highness-"

Cornelia interjected before the man could finish speaking. "_Now_ Jeremiah. _Leave_. I need to speak to Lelouch." The older princess narrowed her eyes at the guard. "Or do you think that I'm not capable enough to protect him?"

Lelouch ignored the guard, who had paled dramatically at Cornelia's insinuation, and glared up at Cornelia. "Where's Nunnally?" Lelouch shouted. "Where is my sister?!"

Lelouch didn't have time for anything else at that moment. He needed to know that Nunnally was safe, that she was still alive and that his nightmare was just a bad dream. He started shaking as Cornelia looked down at him with a strange expression. As if she weren't aware what emotion she was supposed to express. Why would Cornelia look at him like that? Was he wrong, was Nunnally gone? Just like mother? '_No!_' Nunnally had to be alive, she just had to be.

"Lelouch, Nunnally's in the hospital." Cornelia said slowly.

Lelouch's eyes widened in fear. "What?" The young prince rasped. His sister was in the hospital. His little sister was in the hospital! His body started to tremble in fear and he shook his head in denial. "No, why would Nunnally be in the hospital?" He hadn't seen any wounds on her the previous night. But he had also been so focused on the fact that she was still alive that he could have missed anything. Oh God, what happened to Nunnally?!

Cornelia shot Jeremiah a look and he took the hint.

Lelouch ignored the man as he walked away, not taking his eyes off of Cornelia for an instant. Cornelia started walking down the long hallway and gestured for Lelouch to follow her. "Follow me; we're going to go see Nunnally." Lelouch's eyes widened and he sprinted to catch up to the li Britannia's longer strides, hoping that Nunnally was going to be okay.

Luckily for him, he had been put to bed in the same clothing he wore the previous night. Not that he cared about anything other than making sure that Nunnally was alive at that moment, but it would have reflected badly on him if he had been seen by any of the nobility in anything other than proper clothing regardless of the fact that he was just a child.

He followed behind his older sibling silently. He was too scared for Nunnally to want to talk to anyone right now. He needed to see, with his own two eyes, that Nunnally wasn't dead like mother. That she would still be the warm little sister that he knew her to be and not a cold, dead corpse. As Lelouch followed Cornelia through the door that led to the ballroom, he froze.

The image from the previous night was superimposed in his mind over the now bloodless staircase before the sight was blocked off by a female body.

Cornelia whispered into his ear as she knelt down and held his shaking body in a comforting hug, "Shh, shh. It's okay Lelou. Nellie is here for you." Lelouch was so out of it that he didn't even react to Cornelia using his dreaded nickname that Euphie and Nunnally had come up with.

He just held onto his older sibling tighter as he leaned on her. Cornelia picked up the older vi Britannia gently and continued to carry him down the staircase. Lelouch buried his face into Cornelia's shoulder and quietly whimpered as they passed the place his mother had been standing the previous night.

The trembling in his body lessened slightly as they left the Imperial Villa and entered Cornelia's vehicle. "Take us to the hospital please Guilford." She said as she buckled Lelouch and herself in.

"Yes, My Princess." The voice of Cornelia's personal Knight of Honor sounded from the front seat.

Lelouch stared aimlessly out the window in the backseat as Cornelia tried to comfort him. '_Please, please let Nunnally be okay. I don't care what price I have to pay, just let Nunnally be okay. Please._' Lelouch was silent the entire drive and as he looked up at the beautiful blue sky that was over Pendragon, he felt sick. His mother was dead and his little sister was in the hospital, the sky shouldn't be so clear after such a terrible tragedy.

* * *

(Pendragon, Britannia – Pendragon Hospital – 11:37 am – October 12 – 2009 a.t.b)

The hospital was relatively quiet, something that Lelouch appreciated. It gave him time to think.

Cornelia had stopped speaking to him on the way to the hospital when it became clear he wasn't responding. Although she did have plenty of things to say about the traffic that caused them to take so long to get to the hospital, most of it definitely not meant for an ordinary child's ears. Luckily for her, Lelouch was no ordinary child and Clovis had the habit of cursing rather vocally when Lelouch beat him at chess so he was no stranger to swearing. Though the Eleventh Prince made it a point to not curse until he was older after he cursed when suffered his first, and only, loss after Schneizel defeated him and got scolded by the White Prince.

The Second Prince had taught Lelouch everything the eight year old knew about chess and had watched Lelouch start creating his own unique form of strategy by playing Clovis and other members of the Imperial Family and the nobility. However, his own form of strategy wasn't fully completed yet and as a result; Schneizel knew what Lelouch was going to do almost before he even did it when the eight year old boy challenged him. It reminded Lelouch that he wasn't as unbeatable as he thought and it made him extremely mad for a few days after his loss. He got over it eventually, but he still felt mild humiliation whenever the incident was brought up.

Schneizel was a tactical genius, unmatched by nearly everyone in the Imperial Family save maybe Cornelia. However, Cornelia was more of a military genius than a tactical or political one like Schneizel. Nevertheless, she was the only one, aside from the young Lelouch, to ever give Schneizel a hard time when playing chess. She never beat him, but she had managed to make every victory of Schneizel's very difficult for him. And Lelouch was a genius in his own right; despite being only eight years old he had a mind that was greater than most children at least twice his age.

And now, he needed to turn his brilliant young mind to who killed his mother and how they did it. He knew that infiltrating Pendragon was a virtually impossible task, and if the assassins, because he knew they had to be professional assassins, had managed to infiltrate, why didn't they target the Emperor? Why target one of his many consorts instead? The only ones who he could think of that would want his mother dead would be terrorists, politicians from the E.U. and the Chinese Federation, and… the _nobility_!

Lelouch's eyes widened slightly as he had an epiphany. '_Mother always said that the nobility hated her for becoming a Knight of the Round and marrying Father. The nobility would also be the only ones who would be able to smuggle in assassins under the guise of their guards, but… no that wouldn't work. They wouldn't have the kind of authority to change their guards so quickly without anyone noticing and no professional killer would be so foolish as to take a job with such a glaring mistake._'

Lelouch closed his eyes in thought as he mentally listed all of the requirements necessary for the assassins to have been able to attack and kill his mother. '_They would need to have the money to hire the most skilled and professional assassins in the world, they would then need to be able to smuggle them in under the disguise of guards, and they would need the authority to have the nobility and other palace guards ignore the sudden change._' Lelouch's eyes shot open as he tried to stop his body from trembling from his realization.

'_The ones who had mother killed, the ones who hurt Nunnally, they have to be a member of the Imperial Family. No one else would have the authority and funds necessary to pull it off._' Lelouch studiously ignored the small voice in the back of his head saying, '_No one else, except the Emperor._' The Emperor would have no reason to kill his mother, he loved her. She was his favorite wife. Mother had told him so.

"Excuse me, Your Highnesses," A doctor interrupted his train of thought as he entered the waiting room from the door leading to the more secured levels of the hospital. The kind reserved for treating the nobility and the Imperial Family. "You may enter Princess Nunnally's room now." The doctor turned around as both Cornelia and Lelouch stood up from the waiting area to follow. "Just make sure to stay quiet. The Princess needs her rest and she must not be disturbed." Lelouch began shaking slightly as he heard the doctor whisper, "Poor child."

He had to see his little sister with his own two eyes before he could figure out what to do with his newly discovered knowledge. He practically sprinted down the hallway towards Nunnally's room before Cornelia caught up to him and grabbed him by his collar. "Lelouch calm down. The doctor said to not disturb her. You need to stay calm." She hissed at him as he tried to claw his way from her grip.

At his older sister's chastisement he stopped struggling. "Fine, I'll stay calm just let me down so I can see Nunnally." He hissed back. After Cornelia set him down and walked the rest of the way to Nunnally's hospital room Lelouch stayed behind her so she wouldn't be able to grab him again and so he could try and calm himself down before he panicked. He needed to keep a level head before he made some mistake by accusing the Imperial Family of regicide.

That wasn't something that could be done without proof and no professional investigator would take an eight year old seriously, whether he was a Prince or not. Especially if he was targeting members of the Imperial Family. The Imperial Family did not get investigated by professional investigators. Ever. It was something of a rule, one that would make it impossible for Lelouch to turn to anyone for help. '_Except for maybe_' – his train of thought was cut off as he realized that he and Cornelia had arrived in front of Nunnally's room.

He quickly pushed his way past his older half-sister and quickly and quietly opened the door that was keeping him from Nunnally. He ran to his little sister's bedside and his eyes widened in surprise and shock.

Nunnally was hooked up to a bunch of machines that Lelouch only had a vague idea of their functions and she was being sedated by an IV drip in her arm with an oxygen mask on her face. But what surprised the eldest vi Britannia the most was the bandages wrapped around her head covering her eyes and the fact that she was only dressed in a small hospital gown that only went to her mid-thighs, clearly displaying the bandages wrapped around her legs. Her tiny body covered by such a flimsy gown and wrapped in bandages terrified Lelouch.

He had never realized how _fragile_ Nunnally was, but what the hospital had put her in flaunted that fact in a terrifying way. Nunnally was supposed to be the tiny terror that joined up with Euphie and Milly to chase him around the gardens of the Aries Villa while Anya watched until he collapsed from exhaustion, not this fragile doll that was covered in bandages. "Nunnally," Lelouch whispered hoarsely as he reached out to take his beloved little sister's hand.

Her hand was cold as he curled his fingers around her own, he quickly grabbed her hand with his other one and squeezed it to try and bring some small comfort to the unconscious five year old. He held her hand with his own and brought up to his cheek as his eyes started to water. He pressed her hand against his lips and kissed her knuckles, trying to convey to his beloved little sister's unconscious form that her big brother, _her Lelou_, was still there for her.

He had hated that nickname when Nunnally and Euphie had come up with it, saying that it was too girly. Although Milly had found it hilarious despite being unable to properly pronounce it the way Nunnally and Euphie could. Now though, now he was going to cherish it as much as he possibly could. It was a gift from his beloved little sisters and he was never going to take it for granted again.

As he continued to look upon his unconscious sister, Lelouch was filled with a fierce protective love, only matched by a newly burning hatred. He was going to utterly _destroy_ the ones responsible for this. They stole his mother from him and they had almost stolen _Nunnally_ from him too. They wouldn't get away with this. As long as he was alive, the ones responsible would never be safe from his wrath. Even if he had to burn the world to the ground, he was going to destroy the ones who had stolen his mother and hurt his little sister.

His thoughts of violent and bloody vengeance were interrupted as Cornelia sat down in the chair next to him to look at Nunnally's unconscious form. Lelouch took a steady breath and calmed himself down. It would be very bad if he gave anything away to Cornelia. He had no idea whether or not she would take his side if he let her know his innermost thoughts. He needed to be careful, not just for himself, but for Nunnally as well. He would never be able to forgive himself if his actions ended up getting her hurt or worse.

He stayed silent at Nunnally's bedside the entire day, holding her hand and giving silent reassurance that he was still there. Not once did Nunnally's unconscious form stir, but Lelouch knew that it wasn't anyone's fault, no matter how much he wanted to blame somebody for Nunnally's misfortune. The doctor had said she needed to rest so he was fine with her being unconscious as long as it was for her to heal properly. He ended up falling asleep at her bedside holding her hand, not once leaving her side, not even to eat.

Cornelia picked him up and carried him back to her car, letting him sleep. She had Guilford, who had followed the Prince and Princess to Nunnally's room, but stayed outside both out of respect for their privacy and to guard the door in case anyone decided to try and finish what the assassins started, drive the two back to the Aries Villa and she tucked him back into his bed.

Almost immediately after being separated from Nunnally, Lelouch started twitching fitfully in his sleep. It steadily got worse until Cornelia left him alone so he could sleep in his bedroom. Almost as soon as the oldest li Britannia had left him alone, he started tossing and turning violently in his sleep. This was a routine that would continue for the next six days until Cornelia made a mistake that would forever taint the relationship she had with her little brother.

* * *

(Pendragon, Britannia – Aries Villa – 8:22 pm – October 18 – 2009 a.t.b)

Lelouch glared at Cornelia as the two of them stood in one of the many hallways of the Aries Villa. "You're responsible; it's your fault as much as it is _theirs_." He spat at Cornelia.

During the last six days Lelouch's attitude had been getting darker and darker with his recent actions matching his descending mood. He had gotten rid of almost all the staff in the Aries Villa because he didn't trust any of them, refused to eat anything he didn't personally make or watch be prepared and have the cook eat part of it first, and had almost all of the guards fired. It was a wonder he even still had people working on the Villa with his paranoia.

After he realized that a member, or members, of the Imperial Family had been the ones responsible for the death of his mother and the crippling of his beloved little sister, he realized that if they could pay off professional assassins, then the employees at the Aries Villa would be all too simple to bribe. So he solved that problem by getting rid of anyone who wasn't explicitly necessary for the maintenance of the Villa.

He also made sure to never refer to the Imperial Family in any way when he was speaking of the assassins. He, and more importantly, Nunnally, couldn't afford any mistakes. He had to make sure to keep his knowledge to himself until he could make a plan. The guards that had been on duty the night of the tragedy had been executed for negligence resulting in a regicide and had already been dealt with, but then he learned something else.

"I told you Lelouch, I had no idea what was going to happen!" Cornelia shouted at Lelouch. Cornelia had called off a large number of the guards the night his mother was attacked. He _trusted_ her! And she had been part of the reason why his mother's security had been so lax. In his mind, that made her just as responsible for what happened as the ones who paid the assassins and the ones who pulled the triggers.

"I don't care! I thought I could trust you, but you're just as responsible for mother's death and what happened to Nunnally as _them_!" Lelouch shouted back. '_How could you Nellie? I thought you could be trusted, but if you're even partly responsible I don't want you anywhere near me or Nunnally._' The Eleventh Prince growled and threw out his left arm violently, "Get out! I don't want to see you anywhere near me or Nunnally ever again!" His voice obviously shocked the older li Britannia, it partially surprised him too.

It sounded far too guttural and animalistic to have come from an eight year old, but Lelouch wasn't complaining. If it helped him get his point across he couldn't care less what he sounded like. Cornelia's stance softened. "Fine, if that's what you want Lelou, I will leave."

Lelouch quickly interjected. "Don't call me that, after what you did, you don't have the right." He snarled.

Despite Lelouch's statement, Cornelia slowly walked toward the young Prince. Lelouch stiffened, wondering if he had pushed Cornelia too far and she was going to silence him. His eyes widened in surprise as Cornelia knelt down and gave him a light hug.

"I will leave, _Lelouch_, if that is what you want. Just know that your big sister Nellie will always be here for you. No matter what." Cornelia whispered into his ear quietly. When she realized that Lelouch's body was still tense as though he were preparing to be attacked, Cornelia stood up, looking down at her little brother sadly, and silently walked away.

Lelouch stood in the hall of what was once his home, trembling in anger. '_How dare she pretend to care, as if she didn't have a hand what happened to Nunnally and mother._' He entertained the thought that maybe Cornelia wasn't lying, but disregarded it after deciding that if she hadn't told him about her calling off his mother's guards before now, she wasn't trustworthy.

He entered his bedroom, where Cornelia had been taking him after he had fallen asleep after his latest visit to his still unconscious little sister, and crawled into his bed. '_I can't trust anyone here._' Lelouch thought to himself as he stared at his bedroom ceiling from his bed. '_Cornelia betrayed my trust and Schneizel isn't here, stuck in negotiations with E.U. politicians across the ocean. And if Cornelia had something to do with what happened Schneizel could also have a hand in it._' Lelouch shivered at that thought. His half-brother was absolutely ruthless. Even though Lelouch knew that Schneizel cared for him, he couldn't discount the possibility that the White Prince wouldn't eliminate him.

'_Schneizel is far too cunning and if he had a hand in mother's death and Nunnally's injuries… I can't afford to let him know that I suspect even one member of the Imperial Family. Schneizel wouldn't take any chances and if he thought I suspected just one, he would assume it's him and try to have me silenced if he had anything to do with this._' He dearly loved his brother who had taught him so much, but he knew that Schneizel was someone who wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice anything if he needed to. That was his entire philosophy when it came to chess and it translated directly into his life as well. All pieces save for the King were expendable to him and once a piece was no longer useful he wouldn't hesitate to discard it if it became necessary.

Lelouch then began to think of other people who might be able to help him. He began disregarding them one by one as he realized that none of them could be of any help regarding his goal to find the ones behind his mother's murder.

'_Clovis won't be able to help; besides he's probably too busy trying to play politics in Area_ 7.' Clovis was never one for rocking the boat anyway. Not even if one of his favorite siblings asked him to.

'_Euphie's barely any older than Nunnally so I know that she had nothing to do with this, but she's too young to be able to help me._' Suspecting Euphie of anything would be pure insanity. The pink haired girl wouldn't hurt a fly.

'_Milly's been exiled with the rest of the Ashfords and, besides, she's too young to be able to help me anyway. Ruben might have been able to help, but he's gone with the rest of his_ _family_.' It wasn't like the Ashfords would be able to uncover anything else anyway. As far as Lelouch knew, they leaned more toward engineering and building Knightmares than politics and subterfuge. Plus he wasn't too sure they'd be willing to help him after he didn't even bother to learn they'd been exiled during the last week.

'_And Anya… I haven't seen her since the night mother was killed, but she's also too young to have been responsible. Still, I wish I could find her. She was always interesting to talk to. Maybe she would be able to help me._' Lelouch turned over in his bed as he sighed. He wondered what happened to his friend.

There was one other after Anya who could help him, but she lived in a completely separate country so she would be unable to help him either. Besides, they had only known each other for a single week earlier that year, he doubted that she remembered him all that well as a result, and she was Nunnally's age as well, making her unable to assist him with his endeavor in his mind.

'_I really can't trust anyone it seems. Anyone who could help me could possibly have a hand in mother's death like Cornelia and anyone who couldn't have anything to with it is too young to help me or in a completely different country._'

Lelouch buried his face into his pillow after letting out a large yawn. He was exhausted. '_I'm too tired. I won't be able to think of any plans like this, but maybe there is one thing I can do. If I can get a meeting with Father, he may be able to help find the ones behind what happened._' Lelouch yawned widely again as he felt his eyes droop shut. '_I'll ask my guard to set up a meeting in the morning._' Lelouch decided as he drifted off into yet another fitful night of sleep.

* * *

(Pendragon, Britannia – Imperial Pendragon Estate – 1:27 pm – October 19 – 2009 a.t.b)

Lelouch walked the path towards the Imperial Palace of Pendragon confidently. He knew that he would have to appear untouchable as he had his audience with the Emperor or the den of vipers that was the nobility would devour him whole.

He stopped in mild surprise as he saw someone who he thought had disappeared, leaning up against one of the many pillars that lined the walkway to the palace. "Anya, what are you doing here?" Lelouch, while happy to see the first friend he made that wasn't related to him in some way was okay, he was confused as to where she'd been.

"Lelouch." Something was off with Anya, she seemed distant as she pushed off the pillar and walked toward him. "I think I know what you're planning to do and I want to ask you," Anya stopped a few inches away and looked at him deep into his eyes, her pink ones boring into his violet. "Please, don't confront the Emperor. I don't want to lose my friend." The pink haired girl pleaded quietly.

Lelouch sighed. She had ignored his question, just like she usually did. At least that much of her hadn't changed. She only ever answered questions she wanted to and no more than that. Although he had a feeling if he saw Anya she would try to talk him out of this, despite not being the most talkative girl. Especially when compared to Nunnally, Milly, and Euphie. He scratched the left side of his head as he replied, "Anya, I need to do this. I need to find out who killed mother and hurt Nunnally." He narrowed his eyes in anger as he thought of the ones who hurt his family. He stared intensely into his friend's pink eyes as he finished his statement. "Until the ones responsible have paid the price I can't back down. Not even for you. I'm sorry." Lelouch stared resolutely into Anya's eyes to show how serious he was about his plan.

It evolved into sort of staring contest, each one unwilling to back down. Until Anya averted her eyes. "Okay Lelouch." Anya conceded.

Lelouch smiled solemnly. He closed his eyes and laughed slightly as he realized something. "Heh, I think that might be the first argument I ever won against you."

Anya gave Lelouch a small smile at his comment before she leaned forward and gave him a small kiss on his cheek. Lelouch blushed lightly as Anya gave Lelouch another small smile as he placed a hand on the place where her lips had met his cheek in surprise. "Just please make sure you and Nunnally stay alive until we can meet again okay Lelouch? Can you promise me that?" Anya asked quietly.

Lelouch gave Anya one of his few real smiles, the kind he reserved solely for those closest to him. "Of course Anya," Lelouch declared softly, "I promise Nunnally and I will definitely stay alive." A small, sad smile came across his face as he finished. "Hopefully by then she will be able to see you again."

Anya's smile disappeared after that and she gave Lelouch a small hug and whispered "Good luck." in his ear before letting go and leaving him behind. He watched Anya leave and turned to face the doors of the Imperial Palace.

Lelouch took a deep breath as he prepared himself for his meeting with his Father. His meeting with Anya hadn't changed his mind. He had come too far to stop now, no matter what she wanted for him. Although meeting with his Father was always a nerve-wracking experience because of the man's enormous physical build, Lelouch felt confident in himself.

The Emperor's sheer _presence_ was simply overwhelming and if one was unprepared they would quickly find themselves as nothing more than a cowering waste of space as the man walked all over them. Charles zi Britannia was a true Social Darwinist and, because his presence was so powerful, one could practically feel the reason why he ruled one-third of the planet.

"Announcing the presence of Lelouch vi Britannia, Eleventh Prince of the Holy Britannian Empire, and Seventeenth in line for the Imperial Throne!" The herald called out and with that announcement, the doors to the Throne Room opened dramatically and Lelouch glared straight ahead. He refused to show weakness, especially with so many of the nobles in the grand room. He strode confidently forward and knelt in reverence for his Father, crossing his arm over his chest in a respectful salute with his fist over his heart as the custom dictated.

"Your Majesty, I have come to ask of the progress of the investigation of my moth- Fifth Empress Marianne's murder and the attack on Fourth Princess Nunnally vi Britannia." He disliked referring to his mother and sister so formally, but he needed to obey the rules of the court if he was going to be taken seriously. Hopefully, the Emperor had discovered something he had not and was able to figure out the identity of the bastard who killed his mother and crippled his sister.

The young Prince stared at his Father through his bangs, trying to see the expressions on the Emperor's face. As if it would give him a clue to the identity of the one who hired the assassins. Lelouch's eyes widened beneath his long ebony hair. The Emperor's face remained impassive, as though he had expected something different. "Yes, what of it boy?" The Emperor's voice boomed. "That's old news. I have already captured the terrorists responsible for my wife's death and they have been taken care of." The Emperor then completely disregarded Lelouch as he turned to a man at his side. "Deal with this; I have more important things to do."

Lelouch's eyes widened in shock at the complete apathy the man had shown him. He had lied directly to Lelouch's face. It wasn't terrorists who had stolen his mother's life and his little sister's legs and sight; he _knew_ it wasn't terrorists. The only reason his Father would cover it up was… _if he had a hand in it_. The man beside the Emperor, because a man who could so callously disregard his favorite wife and her daughter would never deserve to be called Father, took a step toward Lelouch before the boy stood up gracefully from his submissive position and took a step forward to bring the Emperor's attention back onto him.

He stood up straight and glared directly at the Emperor before he spoke his mind. "Old news? Terrorists? It wasn't terrorists! I demand a proper investigation, one which I will lead! I will have justice for Nunnally and my mother! If I can't have that then I hereby renounce my claim to the Imperial Throne!" Lelouch threw out his right arm to emphasize his declaration.

The court went silent for a moment, the nobility staring in mute shock at the young Prince. Whispers started traveling throughout the gathered nobles, wondering if anything like this had ever happened before. Renouncement was common throughout Britannian history since it was a bloodless way for the members of the Imperial Family who had mild or no interest in ascending to avoid being pulled in to the competition for the position of Emperor or Empress, but there had never been any Prince or Princess as young as Lelouch to renounce their position nor had it ever been done for a reason such as this.

Then the Emperor silenced the whispers with a gesture.

The Emperor turned the full force of his own glare onto Lelouch, but the Prince refused to back down. "Impudent brat!" the Emperor bellowed. "You demand? You can demand nothing! You are nothing more than a living corpse! You are dead to me and you have always been dead! Dead from the moment you were born. Who gave you the fine clothes you wear and a comfortable home? The food you eat and your very life? All of those I have given to you, in short you are not nothing to me because you have never existed."

Lelouch tripped backwards over his long cloak when the Emperor stood up and flung his arm out violently. "You renounce your claim to _my_ throne and yet you dare speak such foolishness such as _demands_ to me?! Lelouch, you are dead, therefore you are not entitled to any rights. I am sending you and Nunnally to Japan, as Prince and Princess you will serve well as bargaining tools. Now get out of my sight you foolish corpse!" Lelouch growled viciously at the Emperor.

He barely held himself back, if he attacked the Emperor, with no weapons and surrounded, he wouldn't be able to keep his promise to Anya and he would be unable to care for Nunnally. He stood up from his position on the ground and glared at the Emperor with a vitriolic hatred. "Fine then! If you won't find out who is responsible for mother's death and Nunnally's injuries then _I will_! No matter where you send me or how hard you make it, I will find them and I will _destroy_ them!" Lelouch roared. The former Prince then turned on his heel and strode out of the court with his head held just as high as when he entered, leaving the entire court in shocked silence at the audacity of a single boy's rage to speak against the Emperor in such a manner.

Just as Lelouch was about to exit the court by the doors that he had entered as a Prince not even two minutes ago, Lelouch turned his head slightly and glared at the Emperor out of his left eye. The violet orb blazing with undisguised hatred. "And if I find out you had anything to do with this, not even the title of Emperor will protect you from my wrath _Father_." Lelouch spat. Lelouch turned around and stepped out of the Imperial Palace when he heard the Emperor speak once more. "Is that a threat, _corpse_?!" Lelouch stopped and didn't bother to face Emperor one final time, keeping his back to the man he once believed to be a loving father. "No, _Charles_, it's a promise." He growled. As the former Prince walked away the Emperor's booming laughter followed him, as though the man were taunting him.

He needed to get some air. Lelouch decided to wander the gardens of the palace one final time since he would be unable to appreciate their beauty in the future. He walked to where he entered the path to the palace and took the path that branched out to the left of the straight path that led to the Imperial Palace.

This path was different from the one leading to the palace. Instead of Grecian columns lining a marble stone path, there were trees that were covered in the leaves of autumn, painting the path with scattered red, brown, and orange leaves as they fell off the branches, the path was also not a simple stone but a light brown-gray granite that shined multiple colors in the sunlight as the light reflected beautifully off the rock.

He sighed lightly as he arrived at his destination. It was a small meadow with a countless number of flowers, which were almost always in a constant bloom. He walked to the center and allowed his body to collapse.

He stared at the clouds in the beautiful blue sky for what felt like ages before he noticed that the clouds were beginning darken quickly. '_Oh no, is it going to rain? That's just great._' Lelouch groaned before he stood up, his desire for relaxation completely ruined.

He quickly walked back down the path as he thought about what he should do to keep out of the rain. It wouldn't be very good if he ended up catching a cold now of all times. '_I should be able to sneak into the palace since I had my guard take the car as soon as I arrived. Everyone will think that I've left already. I'll just need to make sure I'm not spotted and I call my guard as soon as I need to leave._' Lelouch snorted lightly at the thought of his guard as he quickly made his way back down the path towards the palace.

The man was terrified of upsetting the Imperial Family ever since the death of his mother, a fact that made Lelouch willing to use him since he didn't trust any of the other guards, and he was always sure to be less than ten seconds away from Lelouch, or if he was acting as Lelouch's driver, less than a mile away from wherever Lelouch left the car. It was annoying, but whenever Lelouch told the man to leave, he always made sure to be just out of sight and never out of earshot.

The man was currently just around the corner of the gate to the Pendragon Palace. Close enough that Lelouch could run to the car without anyone being the wiser, even with his absolutely terrible stamina, as long as he was quiet.

Lelouch went off the path that led to the doors into the Imperial Throne Room, where he was no longer welcome, and searched for a window where he could sneak in so he could keep dry. His eyes darted around and he quickly found a small open window above a cluster of bushes near the edge of the forest that surrounded the palace.

However, just as he was about to reach up and grab the edge of the window, he heard the Emperor's voice. "Why did you kill Marianne V.V.?" Lelouch felt his heart stop. This was it, this was the man who murdered his mother and hurt Nunnally. Not even ten feet away, speaking with the _Emperor_.

He needed to leave _now_, before he was noticed. He didn't have time to learn anything else about his mother's killer or he risked getting caught and killed. No matter how much he wanted to dive through the open window and try to strangle the one responsible for all of his misfortune.

He quickly and silently made his way to the forest surrounding the estate without making a sound.

Lelouch was sure that if he stayed to hear that conversation, he would be found out. He couldn't afford that, if he was killed there was no one who would be able to take care of Nunnally. And so, the former Prince silently stalked his way through the forest and found his way to the walls surrounding the Pendragon estate.

He quickly followed the wall to the gate where the guards let him out without a word as they assumed he was simply coming from his audience with the Emperor.

As Lelouch got into his car he ordered his driver to take him to the hospital. So much had happened in such a short amount of time that he needed to see Nunnally, even if she was still unconscious. Just being near his beloved little sister was enough to calm him down and make him happy.

As he sat in the car, Lelouch looked out the window, seeing the gray clouds continue to poor down rain. '_I don't know or care who you are V.V., but I do know one thing. I will destroy you for stealing away mother and Nunnally's legs and_ _sight_.' He suppressed a growl at the thought of the man responsible for all this.

His thoughts then turned to the man who he no longer acknowledged as his father. '_The Emperor will also pay for abandoning Nunnally and mother. The both of you will pay in blood for the pain you caused them! I swear it, no matter what I must do; I will see to it that the two of you die for what you've done._' Lelouch turned to rest his head against the cool window as he tried to relax himself.

'_I need to calm down, I can't do anything yet. First things first, I need to make sure Nunnally's okay and see if she's woken up yet._' With that thought in mind Lelouch let thoughts begin to wander as he was driven to the hospital.

* * *

(Pendragon, Britannia – Pendragon Hospital – 6:26 pm – October 25 – 2009 a.t.b)

Lelouch sat on his bed in the same hospital room as Nunnally, holding onto her hand with both of his own as he had made a habit of doing to both let her know that he was still there for her and to reassure himself that Nunnally was still with him and not gone like their mother.

After his exile was announced, not publicly or with that exact word of course because that would reflect badly on the _glorious_ Emperor, he had decided that he didn't want to return to the Aries Villa without Nunnally. So he had the doctor who was caring for Nunnally bring in a spare bed for him to use so he could sleep at the hospital and keep an eye on Nunnally.

The doctor had ended up noticing that Lelouch hadn't eaten a thing after showing up to the hospital, being too busy watching over Nunnally for any sign of waking up, and gave him an ultimatum.

Either he could eat the food that the doctor would bring him, or the doctor would send him back to the Aries Villa and not let him come back until Nunnally regained consciousness.

Lelouch picked the obvious choice and decided to eat in the room. The only times he left was when he needed to use the restroom since the hospital room didn't have one. Otherwise, Lelouch was keeping a constant eye on Nunnally's form whenever he was awake.

And, finally, on the day Nunnally turned six, she started stirring from her medically induced slumber. Her hand instinctively curled around Lelouch's as her body stirred as she finally woke up. "Whose there? And why is it so dark?" Lelouch's heart almost broke as he heard Nunnally, his sweet, beloved little sister, sound so scared.

She tried to pry her hand from his grip, but Lelouch simply brought up her knuckles to kiss them in reassurance. "It's your Lelou, Nunnally. Your big brother is here for you." Lelouch's voice cracked as he tried to hold back his tears. _Nunnally was okay_. She was still alive. But the doctor had been right, Nunnally was now blind. He may never be able to see his beloved little sister's beautiful lilac eyes ever again.

The doctor had removed the unnecessary machines after his second visit, leaving only the bandages around her legs and the IV drip to give her body nutrients while it was resting and the machines used to measure her vital signs. However he warned both Lelouch and Cornelia that Nunnally may never open her eyes again.

He explained that the trauma of witnessing her mother's murder so closely had done something to her mind and it may result in her developing a conversion disorder. It was a psychosomatic reaction to severe trauma that was only perceived through a single sense, sight in her case, and it made the one suffering from it simply 'block off' that sense from their brain, resulting in them losing that sense of perception as though they truly lost it.

The doctor had said that very few people who ever react like that to such severe trauma ever regain the use of the sense that they blocked off, but that there had been cases where the patient recovered, but he warned them to not get their hopes up.

He also explained the fact that Nunnally had ended up getting hit by a large number of bullets in her legs that night as well. The bullets had practically shredded the developing muscles in her legs and shattered her leg bones, while miraculously missing her kneecaps. She could still bend her knees just fine, but the damage to her legs was so extensive that, with current medical technology, her legs would be unable to be properly healed so they could support her weight.

Meaning she would be unable to walk again until the proper technology was invented, either to heal the damage or to make it so that her crippled legs didn't need to hold her weight up alone. She would luckily still be able to still feel with her legs, since damage hadn't been done to her spine and she wasn't paralyzed in that way, but the nerves had been damaged as well so the sensations she would feel from her legs would be more subdued than they would be normally.

Had she been older and her leg muscles more developed, they may have been able to do something to heal her bones and muscles, but she was far too young for the necessary procedures to work properly.

Nunnally sat up halfway, pushing with her elbow so she could face the direction she heard her brother's voice from, and she reached out her other hand from her spot lying on the bed, trying to feel around. "Big Brother? Why is it so dark? Can you turn on a light please?" Her voice was still weak from being asleep for two weeks, but it was the same voice he remembered from before the tragedy.

He let go of the hand he was holding and reached out to pull Nunnally into a hug. "Lelouch, please, what's going on? Why is it so dark?" Lelouch buried his face in Nunnally's hair as he took a shaky breath and began explaining what happened during the two weeks she was unconscious.

He had to be careful not to overload Nunnally with the information, but he refused to lie to her. After everything he learned the past two weeks and uncovering the many deceptions surrounding his mother's demise, the only person he felt he could trust completely was Nunnally. And he refused to be like all those who participated in the deceptions surrounding that night. He would _never_ lie to her. Nunnally was the only one who he _knew_ would understand his actions, his feelings, and what was going to happen to them because of what he did and what he learned and still accept him no matter what.

When he brought up her injuries and why she couldn't see him, Nunnally started sobbing violently. Lelouch paused in his explanation long enough to change their positions so that he was sitting on her bed with his back against the wall holding Nunnally in his lap, with her legs out to his right side, as he tried to soothe her by holding her as tight as he could and rubbing his hand up and down her back to try and calm her down. Once her sobbing ceased Lelouch kissed Nunnally on her forehead and made her a promise. "I will never abandon you Nunnally. From now on, I will be your legs and your eyes for you. I will always take care of you, I promise."

After she calmed down, Lelouch asked Nunnally if she wanted him to continue with his explanation. Lelouch stayed quiet as Nunnally silently contemplated his offer to continue. If she didn't want to know, all she had to do was say so and Lelouch would stop his explanation, but if she wanted him to continue, all she needed to do was ask. She turned her face from his chest towards his own face and he felt his heart crack slightly as he once again beheld Nunnally's now permanently closed eyelids.

"Can you promise me one thing Big Brother?" Nunnally's voice was quiet, but Lelouch heard it just fine.

He grasped one of her hands with his free hand while his occupied one continued to rub Nunnally's back in soothing circles. As his fingers curled around her hand Lelouch said, "Anything Nunnally. I will promise anything you ask of me." He truly meant it too. There was nothing he wouldn't do for his beloved little sister.

Nunnally's brow furrowed slightly as she frowned and asked for what she wanted. "Please, promise me that you will never lie to me and that everything you just told me was all true. It's hard to believe everything so quickly and I'm just so confused." Nunnally's voice cracked slightly.

Lelouch placed his forehead against Nunnally's and held her hand even tighter. "I promise you Nunnally, everything I just told you was the truth. I swear Nunnally, in this world full of lies; I will never lie to you. I promise I will never, ever lie to you my beloved little sister. You are the most precious thing to me in the entire world." Lelouch said softly. He meant every word.

Nunnally then returned the grip he had on her hand with equal intensity and brought it up to rub on her cheek. "Thank you Lelouch." Nunnally said happily. She then gave her beloved older brother a smile that practically lit up the room, "Then in return, I promise I will never lie to you either. My Big Brother, I'm so glad I didn't lose you too. I love you so much. I don't think I could handle living without you." She burrowed her face into Lelouch's chest and wrapped her arms around him in the tightest hug she could manage which he gladly reciprocated. "Thank you for being my Big Brother Lelou. I love you so much." She mumbled as she nuzzled his chest happily.

Once the moment ended, Nunnally pulled back slightly and asked Lelouch to continue with his explanation of what happened the past two weeks.

She gently scolded him when she learned about his fight with Cornelia. "You didn't give Nellie a chance to explain herself. She loved mother very much and she would never do anything to hurt her."

Lelouch frowned slightly then explained why he fought with Cornelia. "She called off mother's guards that night. I'm not sure why, but I didn't want to take any chances."

Nunnally frowned when she learned of his reasons. "I understand, just please make sure that you don't jump to conclusions like that again. That's not a very good thing to do you know." She giggled as she heard Lelouch huff in indignation.

"Fine, I suppose I could apologize to Cornelia, just this once. I don't want Euphie to try and get back at me after all." Both Nunnally and Lelouch laughed quietly at the thought of Euphie trying to get even with Lelouch. The last time she did that, she shoved him in the pond in the gardens of the Aries Villa. After his 'scolding' was finished, Lelouch continued his explanation.

He detailed some of the other events that happened that he hadn't really paid attention to at the time, being too worried about Nunnally. He explained that the Ashford family, allies that had sponsored their mother when she was one of the first Knightmare pilots, had lost their noble title and were exiled from the country.

He also explained that there hadn't been a funeral for their mother for some reason. When Nunnally had questioned him on that subject he replied, "I don't know." It grated on him that his mother wasn't even being allowed to be laid to rest and it had brought his already bad mood even lower.

When he explained what he did with the employees at the Aries Villa, Nunnally frowned again. She opened her mouth to scold him again, but Lelouch cut her off. "Yes, I know. I made a mistake, just like with Cornelia, but please let me finish this part of my explanation before you scold me. Okay?" Lelouch then explained the suspicions he had about the nobility and the Imperial Family having a hand in what happened to their mother. He also explained his reasoning to Nunnally and since it was a very understandable assumption she let Lelouch off lightly.

"I understand Lelou. I'm glad you realized that you were wrong, but I want you to apologize to those people if you ever meet them again. Okay Big Brother?" Nunnally said gently.

Lelouch smiled, before he realized that Nunnally couldn't see it, and forced a slight laugh. "When did you become my handler?" He said jokingly before softly replying to Nunnally's request. "Okay, Nunnally, if I ever meet those people again, I'll apologize for getting rid of them because I was paranoid." Lelouch then got to the part of the explanation he was dreading.

After he detailed his meeting with Anya, with Nunnally pouting saying that "Anya had almost stolen his first kiss from her" and made the two of them giggle like the children they were for a few minutes, Lelouch got to his explanation of his confrontation with the Emperor.

Lelouch wanted to make sure that Nunnally was prepared to hear what the Emperor had done. "Nunnally, my audience with the Emperor wasn't good at all. Are you sure you want to hear it?" He asked softly. Lelouch felt like he should warn Nunnally about what happened before he started that part of his explanation.

Nunnally frowned stubbornly and tapped Lelouch on the nose with her index finger. "Of course I want to hear it. You said it was very important right? Then I'll need to hear it if I'm going to be able to help you think about what to do. Right, Lelou?" She finished cheekily. Lelouch laughed quietly.

It was good to see that Nunnally hadn't completely lost her spunky attitude from before that night. It was still heavily subdued, but he could tell the tiny terror that was his little sister was still in there somewhere.

With that gentle 'scolding' Lelouch began the most important part of his explanation. He needed to make Nunnally understand that the Emperor was abandoning them because they were no longer useful to him. He couldn't have Nunnally still believe the man was a loving father after what he had done to them.

He poured out all the emotions he felt during that meeting, his feelings of betrayal, his anger and rage at the Emperor's complete apathy towards Nunnally and their mother, along with the burning hatred he now felt for the man, and he reiterated almost word for word how the Emperor had called him nothing more than a corpse and how he was exiling them to Japan as political bargaining tools.

By the time Lelouch finished his explanation, leaving out nothing, not even his own words toward the Emperor, Nunnally was shaking and sobbing into his chest. His hatred for the man who fathered him grew even more because he had forced Lelouch to make Nunnally cry. He held his little sister closely as he comforted her from the shock of having the image of a loving father destroyed so thoroughly. He rubbed her back soothingly as he kissed her on the head and did his best to calm her down. He knew that she must have been having trouble with her newfound knowledge of the Emperor, but he had promised to never lie to her, no matter how much he wished he could protect her from the cruel truth that their father abandoned them without a second thought.

As he was comforting her, Lelouch was unsure if he should continue with what he learned about after his audience with the Emperor. He decided to ask her if she wanted to know once she calmed down. The last part of his explanation would be the most earthshattering yet and he needed to make sure Nunnally would be able to handle it.

As Nunnally's sobs started to abate, Lelouch continued to hold her tightly as he asked her, "Nunnally, there is one more thing that happened, but you have to promise not to tell anyone about it. It's something no one else knows that I know. Do you want me to finish or do you want me to stop?" Lelouch stayed quiet as Nunnally slowly stopped sobbing into his chest.

Nunnally stayed silent for a few minutes before mumbling something unintelligible into his chest.

"What was that? I didn't hear what you said." Lelouch spoke gently.

Nunnally turned her head up to face her brother. "I want to know. I already know everything else, I promise, I won't tell anyone anything you told me tonight. I don't want anything to happen to you."

Lelouch sighed. Of course she would want to know. So, before he finished up his explanation, he made sure to explain to Nunnally one more thing. "Nunnally, I want to tell you right now that I'm not going to say his name." When Nunnally opened her mouth to protest, Lelouch cut her off gently. "It's not that I don't trust you, but I can't have anyone think you know it. It could put you in danger and that's the last thing I want for you."

Nunnally then closed her mouth and nodded her head, still facing her brother, even if she couldn't see him. Lelouch then dove into the last part of his explanation to wrap up everything that happened to him while Nunnally was unconscious.

"I thought that I could take one last walk around the gardens of the palace to rest, since I wouldn't be able to see them ever again, but after I laid down to relax in the meadow for a while I noticed it was about to rain. I quickly made my way down the path and turned toward the palace. I was looking for a window I could sneak into so I could stay dry and when I found an open window I was about to climb into I heard the Emperor's voice." Lelouch shivered slightly as he recalled just how close he had been to being caught. He had a feeling that if he hadn't left when he did he would have been noticed and he probably wouldn't be alive to tell Nunnally of this.

"He was in that room with someone and he asked that person why he killed our mother, but I didn't hear anything after that. I didn't want to risk getting caught by the Emperor or whoever was with him so I left as quickly as I could without being noticed. The only thing I know about him is his name. I quietly made my way into the forest and snuck back out of the palace estate and had my former guard take me here. I've been in the hospital with you ever since." As soon as Lelouch finished his explanation, he stayed silent to let what he just said sink in Nunnally's mind.

Nunnally was also quiet, as she learned that the Emperor knew their mother's killer well enough to hold a conversation with him in one of the palace's private rooms. She started trembling as the last shard of her image of having a loving father disappeared, being replaced with a feeling of rage. She hugged her brother tightly and whispered into Lelouch's chest with a surprising amount of venom in her voice, "I want to kill him. I want him dead." Nunnally was furious and Lelouch was only slightly surprised that Nunnally could speak with such anger.

After all, he felt the exact same way and Nunnally was his full blooded sister. It would make perfect sense that the two of them would feel the exact same way about the man who hurt their family.

He wrapped his arms around her in his own hug and replied, "So do I Nunnally, so do I. Unfortunately, we're too young to be able to do anything right now, but I swear to you, I will find that man one day and I will kill him for stealing mother from us and for taking away your legs and sight. I will make that man pay for everything he did to you, I promise." Lelouch swore.

He would never let anything bad happen to Nunnally ever again if he could help it. She was the only thing he had left in the world. Nunnally was now Lelouch's only reason for living, for something other than vengeance.

If she but asked, he would give her the world.

* * *

**Author's Note: I hope that you've enjoyed reading my first chapter of Code Geass: Zero's Revolution. I know that what happened in canon is different from what I've portrayed in this chapter, but I have an explanation for it. You see, this story is based on the premise of Lelouch trusting Nunnally more as well as him discovering the Emperor speaking with V.V. in a private room in the palace. It's something that could have happened in canon, but when Lelouch was discovered, the Emperor wiped Lelouch's mind using his Geass.**

**Here, Lelouch ran off before he could learn anything more than V.V.'s name and so he was never caught, he never forgot Anya, he never forgot his fight with Cornelia about her removing his mother's guards, and he realized that the deceptions going on around him were far more elaborate than he believed. The Emperor also is unaware of Marianne residing in Anya's mind until just before his conversation with V.V., which is why the Emperor was unable to use his Geass to make Nunnally and Lelouch forget about her. His control over his Geass isn't quite as perfect as it is in canon just yet and so he wasn't able to use it on Nunnally to make her forget Anya either since Lelouch practically never left her side instead of being sent back to the Aries Villa after being caught. He wasn't sure if he could erase such a small, insignificant memory of Lelouch waiting with Nunnally at her bedside without making a mistake so he decided to leave their memories of Anya alone. Ironically, to Lelouch the memory isn't insignificant at all. The Emperor is unaware of just how deep their bond is so he could have easily altered the memory slightly, but he was far too cold to understand.**

**I believe that it's easier for the Emperor to alter memories significant to the person he's using his Geass on than it is for him to alter smaller memories that aren't as prominent. Case in point, Shirley still knew about paper cranes and the whole make a thousand of them and your wish will come true thing, but she was just unaware of who taught her about them. That's because, to the Emperor, that memory was insignificant despite its importance to Shirley and its connection to Nunnally.**

**The difference between the argument between Lelouch and the Emperor can also be explained by him using his Geass on all the nobles to forget about Lelouch's boldness, because it wouldn't be very good for his reputation if it got out that his eight year old son stood up to him without flinching, and he gave them fake memories of Lelouch cowering after he fell down from tripping over his cloak. He would have used his Geass to implant the same fake memories of that moment into Lelouch after he was caught outside the window, making Lelouch have a severe subconscious fear of the Emperor.**

**One last thing, I will be making this a partial crossover with Nightmare of Nunnally since I want to be able to give her a more active role in the story. It's still going to be mainly like the anime, but it will have elements of the spin-off manga to give Nunnally more depth as a character. It's rather annoying to me when authors disregard Nunnally's character potential and keep her as simply the reason for Lelouch to fight Britannia. Like a bird in a cage. She has so much more potential as a character than many give her credit for, especially with her darker side that can rival Lelouch's that most people disregard when it concerns Nunnally's character. Anyway, I just wanted to clear that up so no one thinks that the characters I use from Nightmare of Nunnally are simply overpowered or useless OCs.**

**I hope that this explains my reasoning behind the changes I made well enough.**

**Now,**

**Lelouch vi Britannia commands you, REVIEW! (Note: I don't actually care if you review or not since I will definitely be updating this story. I just really wanted to say that.)**

**King Draconias Over and Out.**


	2. Chapter 1: The Rise of the Black Devil

"I hereby renounce my claim to the throne!" – Regular speaking

'_How dare the Emperor abandon Nunnally!_' – Regular thinking; Italics not in singular quotations are used for emphasis

"Q-1, strike the left flank now!" – Speaking as heard over radios and other communication devices

"**Lelouch vi Britannia commands you, DIE!**" Speech influenced by using Geass

**Review Replies**

**Wraith Kone** – I have altered the ways that the paragraphs are spaced and I thank you for bringing the subject to my attention. I hope that you continue to read and enjoy my story.

**ElementsofSurprises** – Thank you for your review and I'm glad you're interested. I've changed the way I spaced out my paragraphs and I thank you for bringing it to my attention. It looked differently on Microsoft Word so I didn't realize how off the text was until I published the chapter.

I'm glad you found my little change interesting. It's almost always the little things that end up deciding your future and in that one second Lelouch did something different than what he would have done in canon if he actually overheard such a conversation between V.V. and Charles. That one second is where things begin to change, but some things, like Naoto's resistance group stealing the capsule that contained C.C., will still remain the same simply because it's impossible for that one second and Lelouch's knowledge to affect that moment in any significant way. Anyway, I hope that you continue to enjoy my story.

**Guest** (1) – Normally I wouldn't respond to a reviewer unless they were logged into their account, but since I hadn't put that message up when I was describing my review replies section I will respond to guest reviews just this once. Next time you want to review please use your account on the website so I don't have to specify which guest review I'm talking about in this section. That would end up being very tedious.

Anyway, thank you for your well written review and I'm glad you find my story interesting so far. It's still seven or so years before the Emperor used his Geass on Lelouch to make him completely forget about him being Zero, a Prince, and Nunnally so it's still not as strong as it can be yet. Like all Geass, it takes time for it to get to its full power and the Emperor is trying to make his Geass fully mature without suffering from Geass Runaway in order to make his version a Perfect Geass. Since the Emperor hasn't been using his Geass at almost every opportunity, his version is maturing more slowly than Lelouch's. If you want you can think about Geass like a muscle. The more you work it the stronger it gets but if you work it too hard too fast you would end up hurting yourself. But if you work it slowly over time it steadily becomes stronger, but at a slower rate. Plus if we assume that V.V. made a contract with Charles immediately after he gained his Code we can assume that the Emperor has had his Geass for over fifty years. My reasoning for it not being as strong as in canon yet is that the Emperor is extremely cautious with his Geass because he wants to avoid Geass Runaway and because that has, I assume at least, never been done before he has to be very careful.

Unfortunately, that's going to be the last that's going to be seen of Anya for a while since I can't have her show up in Area Eleven for no reason when she's in the military and/or a Knight of the Round. She has her own responsibilities after all. Yes, I have given some thought to the pairing of Lelouch/Anya, but I won't be revealing the pairings of this story so soon. (Note: This is a joke) – (Besides, I'm pretty sure Lelouch is only has a sister complex not an Oedipus complex. ) Also, I should probably make this clear. The kiss on the cheek was all Anya, but Marianne was the one to hug Lelouch, if that makes sense. It's why "Anya's" smile vanished so quickly when Lelouch mentioned Nunnally's injuries. Also, Lelouch is eight and Anya is five (her birthday is a day after Nunnally's on October 26, 2003 a.t.b), I don't think kids that age are even _capable_ of romantic affection. The most they probably feel at that age is a crush. I'm not entirely sure since I wasn't the most normal child in the first place.

I appreciate the confidence you have in me and I will do my best to not have the characters I use from Nightmare of Nunnally overshadow the rest of the cast. Just one thing, I will definitely not be doing the part of the manga with the female Mao. That was just plain weird to me. Anyway, I hope that you continue to enjoy my story. And please, the next time you review, use an account on the website. It's so much easier for everyone that way.

**MM Browsing** – I'm glad my story caught your interest.

Marianne is only just beginning to be able to influence Anya so she hasn't started losing her memories just yet. For a slightly more detailed explanation, see my reply to my guest review above.

Also, regarding Lelouch's relationship with Cornelia and Schneizel, it's not quite that simple. Lelouch, after the invasion of Japan, began to hate Britannia as a whole for more than just his mother's death. And he will definitely be coming into conflict with Cornelia and Schneizel eventually due to being on opposing sides of his revolution.

Regarding Nightmare of Nunnally, I'm going to be using some elements from the story to give Nunnally more depth as a character (which is why I had Nemo on my character listing) so it won't just be singular elements like just Nunnally's Geass. I can't explain more without spoiling anything right now, I apologize for that. Anyway, I hope this cleared up your questions well enough and I hope that you continue to enjoy my story. Thank you for your review.

**Sajuuk** – Thank you for your review, but I will not be making Lelouch a Kung-Fu genius. One of his better characteristics is his mind making up for his lack of physical ability.

Also, not that much has changed yet from canon other than Lelouch being more aware. He won't have an army or the resources necessary to maintain one at his beck and call from the beginning and he will still need to build up the Black Knights from the ground up.

Lelouch will have looked up some things about medical treatment that could be used to help Nunnally because he did something like that in canon. Remember when he mentions Rakshata's work in medical cybernetics?

Lelouch only knows how to pilot a Knightmare Frame from messing around with the Ganymede Knightmare beneath Ashford Academy, but he is no Ace. He simply doesn't have the raw skill of people like Kallen and Suzaku, but I have something in mind that will make up for that.

And Lelouch is someone who isn't very keen on using his friends, at least in the beginning while he still has his moral scruples, even if it would help him in the long run so he will not be using Nina like that.

**NIX'S WARDEN** – Thank you for your review. And FINALLY, someone got it! The parallels were what I was trying to draw attention too. I feel if Lelouch and Nunnally had been more honest with each other, things would have been different. When you think about it, there are a lot of parallels between Lelouch and Charles earlier years.

I'm not going to say anything about the pairings for this story yet, but when they do show up it's going to be rather obvious what pairings I've made. Don't worry though, I have no interest in writing Yaoi, but I will briefly touch upon the relationship between Schneizel and Kanon when they show up in the story since it's technically canon. Since I've never had anything against gay relationships I could write that easily enough since I just don't like writing non-canonical Yaoi because it's not my kinda thing.

And sorry, but that kind of crossover doesn't really interest me. I'm glad to know my story inspired you though. As an author, inspiring other people to write is one of the greatest compliments that can be given. At least in my opinion.

**Guest** (2) – As I said to the person who left me the first guest review, I normally wouldn't respond to a guest review since it makes it difficult to differentiate between my guests. Next time you review, please do so with your account. It would make it much easier that way.

Anyway, thank you for your well written review. You don't need to worry, there's only going to be a slight difference and that's Lelouch is going to have faster physical reflexes. His stamina and muscle strength are still going to be subpar in comparison to his peers, but he won't be completely helpless. Besides, that may actually be canon since he was able to block a Spinzaku kick in the first episode despite being caught by surprise.

Also, Lelouch won't be sponsored by any corporate group or anything like that until he forms the Black Knights (after all, we all know how Pizza Hut supports the rebellion) and gets Kyoto's assistance.

Lelouch has researched medical devices, but only so far as to learn about them. Remember when he mentioned Rakshata's works in medical cybernetics? He will have to pretty much build up the Black Knights from the ground up like in canon though.

Lelouch is already grateful for the Ashford's help in taking care of Nunnally and him for the past seven years so he won't want to ask them for anything else since they already help him take care of the most important thing in his life, his little sister. Lelouch prefers to be as self-reliant as possible anyway. The closest he'll have to a 'conspiracy' with the Ashford family is learning how to pilot the Ganymede from the many school festivals that Milly threw, which is incidentally why he knows how to pilot a Sutherland almost effortlessly, and some help with engineering certain tool ideas that he came up with but needed Ruben's help making.

The last thing I want to turn him into is a Gary Stu. One of the things that made Code Geass so interesting was the fact that Lelouch lost almost as much as he won. Though, I think making him believe his best friend killed Nunnally along with thirty five million people was going a bit far on the producer's part. Anyway, thank you for your review and I hope you continue to enjoy my story.

**Pulper** – Thanks for your review, but allow me to clear some things up right now. You do realize that Lelouch is eight in my first chapter right? And his mother was murdered right in front of him and his little sister was severely hurt. He's going to be severely distraught and it's going to be a while before he trusts anyone other than Nunnally anytime soon.

He may be a child genius, but he's still a child so he isn't aware of all the little things that are important when comes to politics. If you'll notice, he was basing his knowledge of the culprit off the knowledge of who his mother told him hated her. If he didn't know about that, he would have never been able to come up with the knowledge that it was a member of the Imperial Family that was responsible for his mother's death. Anyway, I hope that you continue to enjoy my story as you read.

**MagnetoRocks** – Thank you for your reveal and I'm glad you liked that part. I almost always feel that when it comes to Lelouch as a child people overestimate his intelligence. Yes he was a child genius, but he was still a child and prone to extreme emotional outbursts. Only his outbursts are generally backed by a ruthless logic and that is what makes it so hard to dissuade him when it comes to his plans. He is extremely stubborn and you'll notice that in my first chapter I only had Lelouch tell Nunnally he'd apologize, not that he'd forgive or trust anyone other than her.

I've been waiting for someone to notice that little thing, but I guess I hid it too well. One of my favorite tropes is Exact Words, so I will be playing with that one a lot in this story. Geass makes that trope so much more interesting since Lelouch's intent is what fuels it, otherwise a lot of his more open ended orders would have backfired on him much sooner than most of his plans actually did. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoy my story and I hope you like the new chapter.

**Disclaimer: I don't own any franchise that is used in this story nor do I make any profit from it whatsoever.**

Enjoy the new chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Rise of the Black Devil**

* * *

(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Nobleman Residence – 11:38 am – September 11 – 2017 a.t.b)

Lelouch sighed as he and his friend Rivalz stood silently in the elevator that would take him to his next match. Lelouch and Rivalz were dressed in identical uniforms, both of them being students at Ashford Academy. They were dressed in a simple pair of black pants with a simple pair of dress shoes combined with a long sleeved jacket with a golden trim around the inner edges and a black belt holding it closed. The only difference between them, besides their physical differences at least, was the motorcycle helmet and goggles that Rivalz had on top of his blue head of hair.

As he waited for the long elevator ride to take the two of them to the top floor Lelouch's mind wandered to the events that happened to him after the night Nunnally had woken up from her medically induced coma.

When he had first been exiled to Japan along with Nunnally seven years ago he truly had no idea of what the future held for them. All he knew was that he needed to protect Nunnally no matter what.

They had ended up being sent to Japan on January 7, 2010 a.t.b after the arrangements for their lives as political hostages were arranged.

Not even the Emperor could command a neutral foreign power to simply accept them as he demanded and it had taken just over two months of political maneuvering by both governments to agree to a deal.

The deal stipulated an increased amount of Sakuradite would be sent to Britannia over the course of the year 2010 of the Britannian Imperial Calendar in exchange for the Eleventh Prince Lelouch vi Britannia and the Fourth Princess Nunnally vi Britannia of the Holy Britannian Empire as well as the Holy Britannian Empire not making any aggressive motions against the Japanese government for twelve months.

Of course, as soon as Lelouch learned about the wording used in the agreement he realized that the Emperor had no intention of keeping his word. After all, the man himself had said he believed Lelouch to have been dead from the moment he was born and that meant the Emperor didn't consider "Eleventh Prince Lelouch vi Britannia" as even existing. He figured the man probably felt the same way about Nunnally as well which infuriated Lelouch. Even the nine year old boy he had been then could tell that the Emperor was simply deceiving Japan. Especially since, by the words used, the agreement was most likely considered to be null and void the instant it was signed in the Emperor's mind. Or so Lelouch assumed at the time.

Once Britannia attacked in the month of August, Lelouch had found his theory proven right and he, Nunnally, and their close friend Suzaku Kururugi had been forced to flee from Britannian forces after their residence was destroyed by bomber planes. Luckily the three of them had been out exploring the forests at the time and had avoided the deaths that Britannia orchestrated for them.

Suzaku and the vi Britannia siblings had grown surprisingly close despite their rough first meeting and the three of them had grown even closer once they had to rely solely on each other to survive during the Britannian invasion.

Unfortunately, they had to also avoid many Japanese refugee settlements because the Anti-Britannian sentiment was running rampant and Lelouch refused to trust them with Nunnally's safety. Suzaku had begrudgingly agreed with him, more out of concern for Nunnally than him believing his countrymen would voluntarily hurt a blind and crippled six year old little girl.

That decision had ended up taking them through the places hit worst by the invasion and it was one of the few times he wished he hadn't sworn to never lie to Nunnally. The last thing he wanted to do was tell his six year old little sister of the veritable graveyards and ghost towns they traveled through to get to safety, but despite desperately wanting to tell Nunnally they were only traveling through a dump, he had been honest with her. It had broken his heart to tell Nunnally what Britannia did to the many innocent civilians, because he hadn't seen a single weapon amongst the corpses, and he made sure that he avoided too much detail when explaining to her just where they were. No matter his promise to be honest with her, he refused to give Nunnally any images of the things he saw.

"Hey, Earth to Lelouch. We've made it to the top floor." Lelouch shook his head slightly as Rivalz brought his attention back to the present.

"Oh right. Sorry Rivalz, I was just thinking." Lelouch was honestly surprised that he could have ever made new friends with anyone after the things he'd seen. But after setting himself and Nunnally up with their mother's old allies, the Ashfords, after Japan surrendered, thus reuniting them with Milly and learning that they had been officially declared dead having been killed by the Japanese, he crafted himself a public persona that he honestly enjoyed acting as.

Suddenly an arrogant huff brought his attention to his new opponent. "Did your _substitute_ arrive?" The man speaking was clearly very wealthy, a given since he had bought out the entire top floor of the building, and he had a very smug look on his face with his lips peeled into a pretentious grin. His hair was a light brown with eyes that were a pale blue. On the man's lip was a mustache that was divided down the middle. The nobleman was wearing a dusty red jacket with golden thread lining the edges and golden buttons unbuttoned keeping his jacket open revealing his black shirt. His pants were a light dusty velvet color.

Lelouch then noticed the five guards surrounding the nobleman and the man sitting in the chair across from him with an elegant chessboard placed on the table between the two men.

'_Man, I hope those guys are only for show. I hate dealing with nobles who think they can strong-arm their way out of paying for their loss._' Lelouch thought to himself as he effortlessly maintained his composure. Lelouch then turned his attention to the man who he was playing for.

The man was older than the nobleman, but much more thinly built as well. He was dressed in a simple, yet elegant gray tuxedo that was suited for more formal occasions than gambling, but it suited the older man well. The man also had stress lines on his face and was balding, but Lelouch hadn't picked him because of his appearance.

He had figured out early on that he couldn't simply go gamble against the nobility and expect to stay under the radar. So he had found someone who was in desperate need of finances, but was an honest and trustworthy person. Lelouch had asked Rivalz if he knew anyone like that and it turned out that his friend's part-time job as a bartender had given him easy access to many different kinds of people. The two of them worked out a deal with this man and, in exchange for a twenty percent cut of the winnings; he would set up chess matches for Lelouch and act as the supposedly dead Prince's benefactor of sorts.

Of course, Rivalz was compensated as well. Lelouch took the majority of the winnings at fifty percent, something that Rivalz had complained about until Lelouch explained that most of the money would go to caring for his little sister's doctor appointments at which point Rivalz had completely understood his reasoning and allowed himself to settle with the remaining thirty percent.

In exchange for getting the money necessary so the man could keep his home and care for himself, his benefactor would set up chess matches between himself and the many nobles who wished to show off their 'skill' in chess in Area Eleven. After he set up a match, he would call Lelouch at a pre-designated time and Lelouch would let Rivalz know when they would need to leave and on which date. It was a routine that had gained all three involved a hefty profit since there was no one currently in Area Eleven that could defeat Lelouch at chess.

Of course, Lelouch had made it very clear that the man was to not set up any matches against anyone directly associated with the Imperial Family and he wasn't to breathe a single word of their deal to anyone. If anyone asked about Lelouch he was to call the Ashford student his substitute. Something that was technically the truth since the man almost always started Lelouch's games for him if he was running a bit late.

The man looked very relieved currently as he left his chair and he was clearly sweating. Yet despite that the man maintained his kind demeanor towards the ones who helped him out so much. "Thank Heaven, I'm saved. Are things going well at school?" The old man asked kindly. Lelouch had a small smile as he nodded at his benefactor.

The man, despite having practically no relationship with the two students outside of these types of events, was always very genial and kind toward Lelouch and Rivalz. Almost always asking if things were going well for them whenever they met up.

The nobleman turned his attention to his new arrivals and spoke in a clearly smug voice, "What have we here, schoolboys?"

Lelouch gave a small smirk as he stared at his opponent. "Well look at this, a nobleman." He retorted simply. He had no reason to hold a conversation with the fool he was about to part from his money.

The man tapped the nail file he had been using on the table. "I envy you kids today; you have so much time on your hands." The noble then leaned forward slightly and spoke ominously, "Time for regrets. What's your name?"

Lelouch stared down at the noble and spoke clearly and concisely. "Lelouch, Lamperouge." Yes, Lelouch Lamperouge was who he was now. Lelouch vi Britannia had been dead ever since his home country betrayed him and his little sister by invading the country they were living in for its natural resources, leaving the two of them to die.

Now he was simply Lelouch Lamperouge, Vice-President of the Ashford Student Council, the one student who could and would consistently avoid every single P.E. class and somehow get away with it with minimal punishment, caring older brother to Nunnally Lamperouge, and an excellent student despite his notorious gambling habits that made him miss classes repeatedly.

Rivalz looked at the chessboard and gasped in shock. "Whoa, now wait a minute. You can't win this one, it's impossible right?" Lelouch ignored his friend's pessimism. He knew that Rivalz only said that to make the nobles he played even more overconfident ever since he learned how skilled Lelouch was at chess, but it could be exasperating sometimes.

"Rivalz, when do you think we would have to leave in order to make our next class?" Lelouch asked his blue haired friend calmly. Let the fool think he had the upper-hand, it would make defeating the nobleman all the easier.

Rivalz did a quick mental calculation and responded, "About twenty minutes if we bust our asses."

Lelouch had to hold back a smirk. "Then be sure that you drive safely on the way back." Lelouch sat down as he ignored his friend's gasp. "I'll need nine minutes." Lelouch boasted. The noble tapped his nail file twice in irritation, clearly annoyed at hearing a mere student say he could beat him in nine minutes. He then turned his attention to his benefactor. "And by the way, about yesterday?"

The old man responded respectfully, "Understood sir. We'll discuss it later."

The nobleman felt that he'd been ignored enough and cut the by-play between his new opponent and his former one short. "Nine minutes? You only have twenty seconds per move." Referring to the time limitations set to make the match more challenging for the gamblers.

"Enough time." Lelouch replied simply. For Lelouch, twenty seconds was hardly a challenge. The time was currently 11:40 am so Lelouch would have to defeat the noble before 11:50 am in order to keep to his boast. Something that Lelouch felt he could accomplish all too easily.

The young student then began his first move by picking up his king piece.

"You start with the king?" The nobleman laughed incredulously at his new opponent.

In response, Lelouch merely gave the man a smile. The fool would realize the value of his strategy soon enough. After all, Lelouch had never failed yet when he used his own personal strategy to play chess.

He had yet to meet anyone who could defeat his King's Gambit.

* * *

(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Nobleman Residence – 11:48 am – September 11 – 2017 a.t.b)

"Checkmate."

The noble stared at the chessboard in shock, as did the five guards around the two gamblers. Lelouch's benefactor merely relaxed his tense form and gave a small smile toward the student. Rivalz simply gave out a big grin as he imagined all the money he would be getting from his cut this time.

The noble had been foolish enough to suggest that the bet be tripled when he thought he was going to win and Lelouch accepted having successfully lured his opponent into his trap. Of course, once it became clear that he was losing the noble was unable to back out and now he had lost more than three times what he was going to originally have to pay in the first place.

"So you'll pay three times your original bet as promised, right?" Lelouch said with an innocent smile. He hadn't once lost his composure and he knew his innocent act was very unnerving after his ruthless victory over the fool across from him.

He did it specifically to demoralize his opponents so they would have a perception of him being untouchable. It made it much easier for him when he didn't have to deal with the 'guards' hired by his opponents.

Sure he could defeat them thanks to his old sensei's teachings, and he doubted that the men surrounding him had been trained by anyone like Todoh, that man was slave-driver, but his stamina was still absolutely terrible so it wouldn't be very easy. His body just wasn't made for strenuous physical activity over an extended period of time due to its frailty and his muscle strength wasn't so great either, but his reflexes were surprisingly quick despite those weaknesses.

He personally found psychological attacks much easier to use and much more satisfying. Especially against the nobles who all thought they were unbeatable. When they were faced with even a small portion of the real world, which often conflicted with their own perception of reality, they were usually shaken so much they paid him without comment.

And as if to prove him right once more, the nobleman woodenly gestured to his guards to grab the three briefcases that were placed against the wall and give them to the two students and the old man. Originally there had only been one, but when the nobleman tripled his bet two other suitcases were brought out.

Lelouch picked one up while Rivalz picked up the other two. As they were walking out of the room, Lelouch turned his head and gave a mocking smile to the noble who was still staring at the board in shock. "Thank you for your time, mister nobleman. You were _almost_ a challenge for me to crush." As soon as the electric door closed behind him he heard the sound of something fragile shatter as it hit the ground and a scream of rage from the fool who he had liberated of over three hundred thousand pounds.

There was nothing quite like psychological warfare and it was very satisfying for Lelouch whenever he crushed an opponent's spirit. There was probably something wrong with him, because he knew normal people didn't get a feeling of satisfaction when they completely ruined people in so many different ways, but Lelouch just couldn't find it in himself to particularly care. Especially since he only did it to those he knew deserved it.

As the two students left the elevator, they went their separate ways from the old man. It would take too long for them to divide up the money at the moment and they usually sent the old man's cut to him later anyway. Rivalz laughed as he and Lelouch made their way out of the hotel. "Man, this is why I _love_ playing against the nobility. When you beat them they always pay out of pride. By the way, eight minutes and thirty two seconds is a new record."

Lelouch scoffed lightly. "He also didn't have much time to move either. And as opponents go the nobles are tepid. They're just over-privileged parasites, that's all."

Rivalz ran forward quickly and turned around so he was walking backwards. "Well, then why don't you challenge one of the Elevens? They're nothing like us Britannians."

Lelouch frowned as he heard his friend refer to the Japanese with the derogatory term 'Eleven'. He hated that name.

When he had first begun living in Japan he'd hated it. Not because of the people or the culture, but because it truly meant that he no longer had any place to call home. Where he and Nunnally had lived was nothing more than a glorified prison and he had no idea how to escape it. Eventually Britannia had solved that problem for them, but those first few weeks had been irritating. After he got used to it though, he'd fallen in love with the natural beauty of the island nation and he hated how Britannia stole all of that away in the name of 'progress'.

He despised the racism prevalent throughout Britannian culture, but he couldn't really blame Rivalz for his attitude. It was the fault of the Empire itself for imposing such a cruel doctrine and his friend was merely another victim of Britannia's lies.

As the two of them walked through the electric doors their attention was brought to a television on the side of a structure specifically used to broadcast speeches, national news (which was pretty much just Britannian propaganda ), and other important things that were meant to be delivered to the general public at large. The scene depicted was of three towers, one with smoke billowing out from one of the higher floors.

'_Terrorists_.' Lelouch thought disgustedly. He knew that Britannia was wrong to conquer Japan, but that didn't make it okay to kill innocent people. That's not even considering the fact that, according to the report, they had taken out more of their own people than they did Britannians.

He wished more of the terrorist groups were like the Japanese Liberation Front. Whenever they fought it was always against military personnel and they fought more as freedom fighters than as terrorists. He wasn't under any delusions that they didn't hurt the innocent though because he knew that some civilians inevitably get caught in the crossfire, but those kinds of incidents were never deliberately meant to harm the civilian population and were generally par for the course when it came to any military operation in a conquered Area.

The voice of a woman sounded from the television as the Britannian flag appeared on the screen. "We apologize for the delay. Now his Royal Highness Prince Clovis, Third Prince of Britannia, will address the nation."

Lelouch's eyes narrowed as he saw a blond man with light blue eyes wearing an extravagant purple suit with golden threads lining the inside sewn in an artistic shape that suited the flamboyant Prince that Lelouch remembered. Clovis always did prefer to paint and sculpt art than play politics.

Of course, much had changed since those days and he was under no illusion that Clovis was still the same boy he knew. Hanging over his shoulders was a white cape that had golden shoulder pads with little frills hanging off it connected together by an interwoven golden cord.

"To all my imperial subjects." The Viceroy of Area Eleven spoke grandly. "Including of course the many cooperative Elevens who choose to serve the Empire of Britannia." He grasped his chest as though he were hurt. "Do you not see my pain? My heart was ripped from my chest, only to be torn apart. The remnants are filled with rage and sadness. However as Viceroy of Area Eleven I will not tolerate terrorism of any kind! Because the battle we fight is a righteous one, a virtuous battle to protect the wellbeing of one and all. Now then everyone, I would like you to join me in the observance of the eight who died for justice. In the line of duty."

Lelouch almost growled. Of course they would forget the fifty one people who died who weren't Britannian. It disgusted the former Prince that they wouldn't even bother to respect the rest of the dead who were caught in the attack. Though it didn't mean he would go along with this farce anyway.

The woman's voice returned once the Viceroy finished with his dramatic speech. "A moment of silence please."

As Lelouch paid the parking meter Rivalz looked at him. "Well, aren't you going to join in?"

Lelouch gave him a wry look. "Aren't you?" He retorted.

Rivalz put the keys into his motorcycle and started it after putting their briefcases on the floor of the side-car. Luckily it was big enough that Lelouch wouldn't be too cramped when he sat down. "Heh, it's sort of embarrassing."

Lelouch tore out the receipt that the meter gave him. "And I agree with you. Besides spilling tears over those people won't bring them back to life now will it?"

Rivalz pulled his goggles over his eyes and replied, "Damn, that's dark buddy."

Lelouch looked at the receipt to see how much they paid as he responded to Rivalz's observation. "It's all about self-satisfaction. It doesn't matter how hard you try, there's no way you can do it. There's no way you can change the world." He spoke wistfully.

Yes, he desperately wanted to change this rotten world. Maybe then Nunnally could open her eyes and enjoy it as she deserved. But he couldn't afford to risk the life he lived now. He needed to stay alive to take care of Nunnally and if he tried to do anything he would draw attention to himself and Nunnally could be used as a political tool again. '_No._' He would never let that happen if he could help it. She deserved a peaceful life after everything she'd gone through.

Suddenly his phone began to ring. Lelouch raised his eyebrow as he took his phone from his pocket to answer it. "Hang on Rivalz, if we leave now I won't be able to hear whoever's calling me over the engine."

"Sure. It's no problem pal." Rivalz turned off his bike as Lelouch flipped his phone open and put it to his ear.

"Hello, this is Lelou-" Lelouch pulled the phone away from his ear as he heard the person on the other end shout at him.

"Big Brother, where are you?!" Nunnally shouted. Lelouch checked his watch and his eyes widened as he saw the time. It was about a minute noon. "Lunch is almost over. If you're not back soon you're going to be late to class again!" It had taken them nearly forty minutes to arrive there was no way they were going to make it back before their next class at 12:35 unless they got lucky and the traffic from earlier had died down.

'_Great, now I'm going to need to grade even more papers tonight._' Since he was far too different for the mundane punishments that were normally used by the school to work on him, the teachers had come up with a different sort of punishment for Lelouch.

Depending on what he did, he would have to assist the teachers, _all_ of the teachers at Ashford, with a certain number of homework assignments to make up for the time he missed. It was pretty much the only effective punishment because simply because of how mind numbingly _boring_ it was to him. He and Rivalz had thought by leaving at lunch time they could make it to his match and be back well before the lunch break ended, but the traffic had made them late.

"Sorry Nunnally, it looks like we're going to be late. Rivalz and I were just about to leave when you called." He winced as he practically felt Nunnally's frown. He hated it when he upset Nunnally. For more reasons than simply being her loving older brother. Nunnally could be very devious when she put her mind to it. "Hey, how about I take you out shopping tomorrow? My treat. After all, my opponent paid three times more than the original bet today." He sighed in relief as he heard Nunnally chirp her response before he practically choked on his tongue.

"I suppose that would be fine. But we're taking Milly with us so I can get a proper female point of view. Talk to you soon Big Brother, I love you!" Lelouch heard his sister's phone click shut and he shuddered. Milly was going to torture him tomorrow, he just knew it.

Rivalz laughed as he heard Lelouch's conversation. "Dude, your sister has you totally whipped." He ignored Lelouch's glare as he restarted his motorcycle.

Lelouch sighed as he sat down in the side-car and pulled out his book after putting on his helmet and visor. "Just drive." He said exasperatedly. Honestly, it wasn't worth arguing about something like that.

It was well known that he would do just about anything for Nunnally. Of course, there wasn't anyone at school who knew that better than Nunnally herself and when she was annoyed with him she took full advantage of that fact. In fact, when he wasn't the target of her devious little mind, he was very proud of her. Of course, that didn't change the fact that she could play him effortlessly and he couldn't do a thing about it. Not that he really cared. He loved putting a smile on Nunnally's face. Even after being crippled and blinded she was still the devious little hellion that chased him around the Aries Villa when they were younger. He knew though, that no matter how much she messed with him for fun or when he annoyed her, that she loved him very much and Lelouch felt the exact same way.

* * *

(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Highway – 12:17 pm – September 11 – 2017 a.t.b)

As Rivalz was driving down the highway on his motorcycle he asked Lelouch a question that had been nagging at the back of his mind since the beginning of Lelouch's chess match. "That first move you made –"

Lelouch looked at his friend from the corner of his eye. "Hm?"

"Why did you start with the king?" Rivalz may not have been much of a chess player, but even he knew that it was dangerous to move the king when it wasn't in check.

Lelouch returned his attention back to his book as he answered. "If the king doesn't lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow?" It was a very simple philosophy, but one that was very outdated in this modern age. Though with the invention of the Knightmare Frame the philosophy seemed to be making a comeback with skilled pilots gaining higher ranks than normal soldiers. And even if it wasn't outdated, playing the king piece simply because of a personal philosophy would have been foolish. Still, Lelouch had managed to invent a wholly unique playing style that was completely unknown to anyone who knew about chess. His King's Gambit playing style was one of his more mild secrets compared to being a Prince in hiding, but it was still something he'd rather not share with anyone.

Since he was the first one to create it, he knew all of its strengths and weaknesses and he knew exactly how to play it to perfection. The only one who could possibly defeat this style would most likely be Schneizel, but Lelouch would never be able to test that theory. Something he felt somewhat saddened by if only out of a passing curiosity of how his older half-brother would play against it. After all, he hadn't even begun creating the King's Gambit when he was eight, having abandoned his original playing style that he had been creating after being abandoned by Britannia.

Rivalz was confused by his friend's cryptic answer. "What's with that?"

"With what?" Lelouch thought his answer was rather self-explanatory.

Rivalz decided to clarify his earlier question. "Do you fantasize about running a major corporation?"

Lelouch almost laughed. "No way, ambitions like that will ruin your health."

Suddenly a loud noise distracted the two students from their conversation. Lelouch turned his attention from his book to see what had honked at them. They hadn't been speeding had they?

Lelouch's eyes widened as he took in the enormous truck that was coming up right behind them extremely fast. He heard Rivalz shout "Ah we're gonna die!" and he heard the driver yell back, "You idiot! Watch where you're going!" He held on to the edge of the side-car as Rivalz swerved the two of them out of the way. He heard wheels screeching and he turned just in time to see the truck that almost crushed them swerve into a construction site.

Rivalz stopped his motorcycle as he looked at the crash site in shock. "Eh, was that our fault?"

Lelouch stayed calm, it wasn't the first time his life had been at risk so he wasn't all that phased. Even so, not having the constant threat of death over his head for the past few years had evidently made him forget what it was like to feel genuine fear. He answered Rivalz's query with the same nonchalant tone he was known for as he tried to calm down his quickly beating heart. "I don't think so." He said as he watched the billowing smoke float into the air. After all, they had been the ones to almost get rear-ended.

Lelouch's eyes widened as something occurred to him. '_Is the driver alright?_' He thought to himself. Even if he had almost been in an accident, it was just that. An accident. The driver didn't need to die for something like that. As Lelouch set his book down and got out of the side-car to get a closer look to see if there was anything he could do to help he noticed something strange. '_What is that light?_' An odd green light was coming from the back of the truck. Lelouch took off his helmet and visor and leaned over the divider over the highway. "What the-"

He was cut off when Rivalz groaned. "Oh man, this sucks. It looks like the power line on the bike got cut."

Lelouch absentmindedly replied, "Yeah. Hey Rivalz, come check this out." He needed to make sure he wasn't the only one who could see that weird light. Seeing things wasn't exactly healthy. '_Maybe it's shock?_' He thought to himself. After all, he knew all too well how near death experiences could shake someone up.

Suddenly his attention was drawn to a platform closer to the site of the crash. He watched as a large number of people gathered and started taking pictures with their phones as they discussed what might have happened. With one or two suggesting they call for help without doing a single thing. It disgusted him. '_All those idiots._' He quickly turned around and threw his helmet and visor into the side-car and ran to the ramp that had taken the truck to the construction site. He ignored Rivalz calling for him as he rushed down the ramp. His stamina may not have been the best, but short bursts of speed like this were no problem.

As he arrived at the site he noticed that the truck was buried under steel girders. There was no way he'd be able to move those at all so he had to resort to seeing if the driver could reverse the truck on his own. He hoped whoever it was that was driving was still alive. "Hey are you alright?!" He shouted. He wondered if his voice could even reach past all that steel. As he looked around he noticed a ladder that led to the inside of the truck. '_Perfect._' If he could get in he could check to see if the driver was okay or if he needed to call an ambulance.

He climbed up the ladder and stood on the top of the truck. '_Shit, there's no ladder on the inside._' Lelouch noticed. That meant he wouldn't be able to climb out as easily as he could get in. Still he could call one more time and hopefully the driver would be well enough to respond and back out safely. If not, he'd go in regardless. He wouldn't let someone die if he was in the position to help them. He'd had enough of being helpless to change anything. "Can you hear me?! Are you okay?!"

Suddenly, a woman's voice echoed through his mind. "It's you! Finally I have found my –" The voice was cut off before it could finish its statement.

Lelouch looked around as he tried to find the origin of the voice. "But, where?" Was that the driver? "Are you in there?!" He leaned over the edge to get a better look, but the truck was very dark on the inside.

All of a sudden the truck started up again and Lelouch stumbled forward. He gasped before the training he'd received from Todoh kicked in and he controlled his fall. He landed with his left shoulder and rolled into a somersault, stopping on his right knee. He needed to get the driver's attention and fast. "Stop! I'm in here!" His body tumbled as the truck turned and he hit his head on a large metal contraption. He stood up quickly so he could control his balance better before the truck hit another bump and he bumped into the side of the truck. "You'd think they'd put a ladder on the inside too." He complained to himself quietly.

He noticed that the strange machine he'd hit his head on was tall enough for him to use to escape so he reached up and grabbed a handhold. '_With any luck I can jump out before we pick up too much speed. It'll hurt, but the driver clearly can't hear me and I really can't be late to class. They'd never believe this and I'm in enough trouble as it is already._' He blinked. He couldn't believe it. He was stuck in a truck that was heading to who knows where and he was more worried about getting to class on time? He must have hit his head harder than he realized.

"Stop the vehicle!" A voice projected over a loudspeaker said. Lelouch's eyes widened. '_Oh dear God, what have I fallen into here? Please let this just be a standard robbery._' He thought desperately. He could talk his way out of this much easier if this wasn't – "Surrender now and you'll get the chance to defend yourselves in court! Stop and surrender at once!" The truck he was trapped in swerved as he heard gunshots rapidly fire from behind the truck.

'_The fucking military is after them?! Damn it, that means these guys are terrorists._' Lelouch had a feeling that things were about to get much worse. "Give up now, or we'll shoot to kill!" And there it was.

He would have laughed if he weren't terrified right now. It was just his luck the military wasn't feeling merciful the one day he decides to try to be a good Samaritan and ends up accidentally stuck in a truck with _freaking terrorists_. Lelouch hid behind that strange contraption as he calculated his options. He couldn't afford to be noticed by the terrorists right now. "If I jump out right now, I have the choice of breaking my neck or getting shot. I can try to call –" The sound of a door opening caught Lelouch's attention. A red haired woman walked past Lelouch's hiding place dressed in a doctor's scrubs, which she quickly removed revealing a uniform that Lelouch was unable to get a clear look at before she was out of sight.

"Can you enter the subway via the Azabu route?" When the woman spoke Lelouch felt a spark of recognition. He carefully made his way out from where he was hiding to get a closer look at the, admittedly good-looking, terrorist.

"Kallen, let's use _it_ here! Why not?" The driver questioned.

The red haired woman, Kallen, retorted quickly. "Because that would mean a bloodbath!"

Lelouch narrowed his eyes at the woman after the driver conceded his side of the argument with a sullen "You're right." before the door shut again blocking anymore sound from the driver's side and making Lelouch wonder what the hell was going on. '_What have I gotten myself into and why does that woman look so familiar?_' Lelouch was losing the hope that he would be able to get out of this quickly faster and faster. '_Just what in the world is going on here and what did these guys steal? And why would Clovis be so quick to mobilize the military to get it back?_' There was one thing Lelouch knew for sure though, things were about to get very dangerous for him.

Lelouch sighed. '_Nunnally here's hoping your Onii-sama will make out of this alive._' He thought to himself using Nunnally's preferred way of addressing him when they were alone with only each other and Sayoko.

The Japanese language had been something that both Lelouch and Nunnally learned after he and Suzaku started getting along better in an effort to grow closer to each other by sharing each other's languages.

However since Suzaku's English was much better than their Japanese, having been taught at a young age due to being groomed to become his father's successor as Prime Minister, it was mostly Suzaku teaching the two of them Japanese. What had caught his and Nunnally's interest were the multiple ways that people could be addressed and the differences between the levels of affection that could be expressed by the Japanese language. She loved to use it to express her level of love towards him when they had been younger, but after Britannia invaded, speaking Japanese had become outlawed along with the rest of the culture, leaving the two of them unable to properly enjoy the ability to express themselves in such a unique way in public.

Lelouch's attention was quickly drawn to the woman again once he realized what she was doing. '_Shit, that's a Glasgow!_' The only resistance group that Lelouch had ever heard of that had Knightmare Frames was the JLF and he knew that these people were definitely not members of that faction.

They were too disorganized and they clearly had no backup coming to help them, something that the JLF would have prepared for easily. As soon as the Glasgow left the truck Lelouch almost ran forward before he realized the truck was moving way too fast for him to safely jump out. '_Damn it, this is bad._' A small light flashed out of the corner of his eye and Lelouch turned to find the scrubs that the woman had abandoned had a communicator in it. '_Perfect, I can use this as a bargaining tool to get help from the military, or I can use it to contact the terrorists to help me escape. Either way, I win._' He thought as he picked up and pocketed the radio. '_Now if only I knew why that woman seemed familiar._' Lelouch sat down as he contemplated his options and the roads smoothed out.

Lelouch pulled out his phone and huffed lightly. "No cellphone reception. I'm out of range and judging from the darkness and the road surface they must be driving along the old subway lines. They're headed for an exit somewhere in the Ghetto." That must mean the terrorists' base was hidden in the Ghettoes. "That means getting out will be dangerous." It was ingenious really. No ordinary Britannian would voluntarily go into the Ghetto. Many of them disliked even seeing Honorary Britannians, especially the Britannians who felt that 'Numbers' didn't deserve any rights at all.

Lelouch tilted his head up slightly and wondered if they had exited the subway lines yet. "I'll have to make my decision soon. Which will benefit my survival more, the terrorists or the military?" Lelouch pondered sardonically.

He was in all this trouble just for trying to help someone out after an accident. '_It's always the little things, isn't it?_' Lelouch thought morbidly before he noticed a strange sign on the machine that the terrorists had been going through so much trouble to steal. '_Damn, it's too dark for me to read properly. I wonder, what is this thing and why is it so important to Clovis?_' No matter, he figured he'd find out soon enough anyway.

* * *

(Shinjuku Ghetto, Area Eleven – Underground – 1:02 pm – September 11 – 2017 a.t.b)

After being stuck in the vehicle for well over forty minutes Lelouch had been constantly trying checking his phone to see if he would get lucky and get some wireless service so he could call for help. Suddenly the truck Lelouch was trapped in lurched. "An accident? Or has the military found the truck?" He wondered as he did his best to maintain his balance.

Once it became clear that the truck had stopped moving completely, Lelouch stood up from his lowered position. When the 'walls' began to open Lelouch quickly moved so he wouldn't be spotted. Once he noticed that no one was rushing in, he figured it had to have been an accident. He definitely would have been taken in by now if the military had been the ones to stop the truck.

'_Maybe now I can see what all this is all about._' The doors that he had thought were walls had ended up lighting the back of the truck just enough for him to get a better look at the strange machine.

Lelouch gasped in shock when he read the label. '_What the hell?! Poison gas?! But chemical weaponry has been banned worldwide since the end of World War I!_' This was really bad, if this really was poison gas, every single person in the country could be in danger.

Suddenly the sound of footsteps brought him out of his shock. He saw a Britannian soldier running toward him before the soldier suddenly jumped and performed an eerily familiar spin kick.

Lelouch didn't have any time to put up anything other than a simple block on reflex as his eyes widened in shock. '_No way! There's someone other than Suzaku who can pull that damn thing off?!_' He thought quickly as he hit the floor from the strength of the kick. He quickly used the momentum from his landing to perform a backwards somersault and get back on his feet. Quickly he raised his arms up as the soldier once again rushed him and quickly pinned him up against the inside of the truck. Both of their arms were occupied holding each other's shoulders as they stared each other down.

The soldier's gas mask popped open as he growled at Lelouch. "That's enough mindless murder."

Lelouch glared at the soldier. As if a Britannian soldier had the right to speak of mindless murder. Still, he may end up needing the military's protection so he couldn't anger his only current potential ally. "Wait, I'm not a terrorist!" He shouted back.

The soldier grasped at Lelouch's uniform and pushed him against the inside of the truck harder. "Planning to use poison gas, don't play dumb with me!"

Lelouch growled as he raised his leg to kick the soldier. "Damn it, get off me!" He shouted. His kick missed as the soldier jumped back, but it succeeded in getting the soldier to back off temporarily. He rolled his shoulder slightly as he walked forward from his position against the wall. "I'm not here by choice I fell into the back of the truck by accident after I tried to help the driver after they crashed. I had no idea they were terrorists at the time." He explained calmly.

If he had a choice he would have normally used this moment to vent his current frustrations by bringing up how if there were poison gas it had to have been made by Britannia, but he couldn't afford to piss off his only current option for protection. He couldn't afford to die and leave Nunnally alone.

The soldier mumbled something as Lelouch stepped into the light that was illuminating the inside of the van. Lelouch gave the soldier a look, "Um, what? I didn't catch that. Whatever, could you help me out of this, I just want to leave. I had no intention of getting involved with these guys in the first place."

"Lelouch." The soldier spoke more clearly this time, though his voice was clearly filled with shock.

Lelouch's eyes widened in surprise before they narrowed in suspicion, if this soldier knew who he was this was going to end really badly. If necessary, he may have to kill this soldier and he wasn't sure he could pull it off. The soldier was clearly more skilled than him despite his quick reflexes and he had never been much of a physical fighter. But he couldn't afford his identity to get out; it could compromise Nunnally's safety. He suddenly felt sick at that thought as the soldier removed his helmet and spoke to him.

"Lelouch, it's me. It's Suzaku." His old friend spoke to him for the first time in seven years. His childhood friend was dressed in Britannian military fatigues that were generally given out to the lower rank grunts. But his curly brown hair and pale green eyes were still the same as the friend he remembered.

'_Oh God, I just thought about killing Suzaku!_' Lelouch thought in shock and disgust. He could never kill Suzaku after everything the two of them had been through with Nunnally. "Suzaku, you became a Britannian soldier?" He mumbled in shock. Had his friend forgotten of all the terrible things that Britannia had done to his people during the invasion?

Suzaku gave Lelouch a solemn look. "So was what you said earlier true? I'd hate to think you'd become a terrorist Lelouch."

Lelouch snorted. "Yeah, just goes to show ya what happens when you try to do something nice for someone. The driver almost crashed into me and my friend on the highway before they ended up running into some kinda construction zone. I thought I'd be a nice person for a change and help the guy out since it was only an accident. Then all this crap happened. Talk about bad luck right?" Lelouch asked rhetorically. His luck had never been the best, but this was just ridiculous even by his standards.

Before Suzaku could respond the capsule containing the poison gas cracked open and a golden light started shining from the contents. Suzaku reacted almost instantaneously and tackled Lelouch to the ground and covered his mouth with his military gas mask. Lelouch grunted as he hit the ground and looked at his friend in shock. '_No, Suzaku's going to be killed!_' His friend had just given up his only protection to save Lelouch.

Suddenly, a beam of yellow light shot toward the ceiling of the truck and exited through a crack that was allowing light into the underground cavern causing a circular hole to appear in the roof of the truck. As soon as the beam of light left the vehicle the golden glow began to die down and Lelouch realized that no poison gas had erupted from the canister. Before he could start to wonder why the label had been false a woman with long green hair bound in a Britannian prison uniform fell out of the capsule.

"That's not poison gas." Suzaku murmured absentmindedly as the woman was temporarily bathed in the golden glow. '_Beautiful._' Both Lelouch and Suzaku thought at the same time. The scene was almost ethereal and the woman was definitely eye-catching. Passive golden eyes stared at them before closing in what seemed to be relief and the woman collapsed.

Seeing the woman fall unconscious brought the two teenagers out of their reverie. This was no time to be gawking. The two old friends carried the woman out of the truck carefully and gently set her down on the ground.

"Well, isn't this an interesting day. First accidentally falling in with terrorists, and then meeting an old friend who joined the military, and now a woman being labeled poison gas. I know women can be troublesome, but this is ridiculous." Lelouch joked as he helped Suzaku unzip the woman's straightjacket freeing her hands enough so they could find the buckle binding her arms. Underneath the lower restraints that Suzaku unzipped she was wearing high heeled boots an identical shade of white to the rest of her clothing.

Suzaku let out an exasperated sigh. "You were thinking of Kaguya when you said that last bit weren't you?" The Honorary Britannian said tiredly. His cousin had that effect on people; even as a little girl she could drive people crazy with ease. "Anyway, we were briefed that what the capsule contained was poison gas, so I have no idea what's going on." He unbuckled the restraints binding the woman's legs and arms as Lelouch froze.

'_Wait, they only let Honorary Britannians join the military and they're almost always considered to be cannon fodder._' He thought to himself as he realized something dangerous. '_And Suzaku wasn't briefed about this woman but told a cover story about poison gas._' His hands started to shake as he moved again to pull off the lower face mask binding the woman's mouth, but much more slowly as a terrible fact sunk into his mind. '_That must mean they're going to cover this up and to do that they're going to kill Suzaku!_' His eyes squinted as a harsh light flashed from his left.

"Fucking trash." A man dressed in the garb of Clovis' Royal Guard said as he stood backed up by at least nine other soldiers with floodlights making it difficult for Lelouch to identify anyone's features other than their leader. The man had a scar curving under his left eye, but that was pretty much the only unique thing Lelouch could notice with the lights blinding him. Otherwise the rest of the Royal Guard and their leader looked pretty much identical to him. "Being an Honorary Britannian will not excuse you!"

Lelouch reached forward to try and stop his old friend, but he missed as Suzaku ran up to his superior. '_Damn it Suzaku, they don't care! They're not going to let you live now that you've seen what was really inside that capsule. This woman really is poison, but only to Suzaku's superiors and Clovis if knowledge of her gets out._' He thought to himself as Suzaku tried to explain what was going on to the Royal Guard.

As Lelouch expected the guard ignored what his old friend had to say, but he _was_ surprised by what the man did next. "However in light of your outstanding military achievements I'm going to be lenient." He pulled out a pistol and handed it toward Suzaku. "Private Kururugi, take this and execute the terrorist."

Both Suzaku and Lelouch's eyes widened in shock. Suzaku turned toward his childhood friend as he tried to explain. "But he's not a terrorist he's a civilian who just got caught up in all this by mistake!"

The leader of the Royal Guard interrupted Suzaku, "You insubordinate little bastard. That's an order! Didn't you swear your loyalty and your life to Britannia?!"

Suzaku clenched his fist in frustration. "Yes, but– but I can't."

The Royal Guardsmen growled at the Lelouch's childhood friend. "What?"

Suzaku turned to look at Lelouch. "I won't do it sir, I won't shoot a civilian. I can't follow your order sir."

The Royal Guards leader frowned before responding as he lowered the gun in his hand. "Very well." the guard pulled the trigger and shot Suzaku in the back before he could react.

"Suzaku!" Lelouch shouted in shock and desperation. '_No, not Suzaku too._' Lelouch ignored the guard speaking at him as his mind almost shut down. His closest friend was dead, just like his mother. _Dead, dead, dead, DEAD!_ Suddenly the truck behind him exploded upwards collapsing the already structurally weakened ceiling around the young student, shaking Lelouch out of his funk.

'_No. I can't afford to die here._' He couldn't afford to be distracted now and let Suzaku's sacrifice go to waste. He was different from that night, his mind had already seen the many tragedies that Britannia was capable of and he just needed to classify this as another one until he could mourn properly. '_I'm sorry Suzaku, but I guess I'll have to find your body later. I swear I will make Britannia pay for this._' He picked up the green haired woman on instinct and ran into the tunnels of the Ghetto.

* * *

(Shinjuku Ghetto, Area Eleven – Underground – 1:33 pm – September 11 – 2017 a.t.b)

Lelouch leaned up against a wall underground as he heard the sound of explosions echoing above him as a massacre was being carried out by Britannia. "It's just like the invasion all over again, only this time it's over a single woman." Lelouch said in disbelief.

Lelouch glared at the green haired woman that had fallen out of his grip when he leaned against the wall to rest. "This is all your fault! Because of you, everyone here is going to die! And Britannia's, it's even stolen Suzaku!" Lelouch covered his face and pressed against his eyelids with his right hand as he tried to suppress tears for his friend. '_Damn it, Britannia has already stolen my mother, my little sister's legs and sight, and now they've stolen my closest friend!_' Lelouch took a deep breath, '_No, I can't think like that right now. At the moment, I should be focused on surviving._' Lelouch turned to the green haired woman more calmly this time. '_And I suppose I should protect her too. After all, Suzaku lost his life so that we both could live. I would be dishonoring him if I let this woman die right now._'

As Lelouch bent down to pick up the woman and leant her against the wall, he apologized to her. "I'm sorry for my words earlier." Lelouch knelt down at her side to see if she had any injuries from her fall. "I'm not going to let you die after my friend gave his life for us. Can you walk?" He asked softly. The woman gave him a searching look, as though she were trying to ascertain his sincerity. She was apparently satisfied with what she saw and decided to respond to his query.

"Not all that well," the woman spoke in a calm voice, "I'm still worn out from the anesthetic they injected into me." Lelouch was surprised that the woman was so calm. Though there was also the fact that her voice seemed familiar to him for some reason he couldn't place. It was a very sophisticated tone that she used, indicating most likely she spent a large amount of time amongst the nobility.

Lelouch frowned at the woman's statement. '_Damn, I don't think I'm strong enough to carry her all the way out of here._' His arms were burning from the effort of carrying her so far already and he doubted the anesthetic would wear off soon enough that the woman could walk on her own without some assistance. He thought about his options before something suddenly occurred to him.

As he pulled out his phone and hummed in triumph as he saw that he finally had service again, the woman's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Are you going to call the military then?" She stated blandly.

Lelouch looked at the woman appalled. "After what they did to Suzaku?! No, if I have a choice I'm never going to rely on the Britannian military ever again. They've stolen far too much from me." He searched through his contacts and pressed a button to call his chosen number. "No, I'm going to call someone that may be able to help us." The woman gave him a look and Lelouch decided to assuage her worries as the phone rang in his ear. "Don't worry, she's trustworthy. I'd trust her with my life."

"Hello? This is Sayoko." A young woman's voice answered demurely. "May I ask whose calling?"

Lelouch sighed in relief as he heard his maid's voice. "Sayoko, this is Lelouch. I need your help, I'm stuck in the Ghetto and there's a woman here who is being targeted by the military. We're safe for now, but I don't know for how long. Right now, I need you to check the news and tell me what's going on in Shinjuku." He spoke urgently.

"Yes, young master." Sayoko spoke in assent. Lelouch heard a click in the background as the maid turned on a television. "The only news coming out of Shinjuku right now is a large amount of traffic. Would you like me to come pick you up young master?"

Lelouch sighed as he realized what was going on. '_The military is going to cover this up. It can't get out that a massacre was sanctioned or the political backlash would be terrible for Clovis. They're probably going to try and blame this on the terrorists using poison gas._' He thought about Sayoko's offer to help and decided it was probably the safest way to get the two of them out of here. "Yes Sayoko. That would help immensely, but please be careful." Lelouch cautioned her. "I wouldn't want you to get killed on my account. If you can't find us in an hour go to the eastern edge of the Ghetto and wait for fifteen minutes. If I'm not there in that time, leave. I won't have you risk your life. Nunnally needs at least one of us to make it out of this."

"I understand young master, but, pardon me for saying this, I'm sure the young mistress would rather you get out of this instead of me." Sayoko said remarkably calmly for someone mentioning her own possible death. Lelouch figured that it probably came with being a shinobi.

When Lelouch had first begun living with the Ashfords, he had personally assisted Ruben with investigating all of the man's servants and which one who he would pick to help him take care of Nunnally.

As he had only been nine when he had moved in, he was unable to properly care for everything Nunnally would need in the future no matter how much he loved her. It had taken some serious convincing on Ruben's part to make Lelouch understand that he couldn't possibly raise Nunnally without help when he was only a child himself.

Eventually the man succeeded, and Lelouch agreed on the stipulation that he would only pick one of the man's servants and he had to personally interview and investigate all of them.

When he had come across Sayoko, he had been shocked to find out that the woman had been hired before the invasion, since most Japanese servants had been hired after their country was conquered, and that the woman was actually _satisfied_ with being a maid to the Ashford family.

When he asked Ruben about her, he had said it was because the woman was from a family of shinobi and she had to learn to accept all forms of tasks, including being a maid, in order to get closer to her targets.

She had originally been sent by her family to assassinate Ruben and to steal information about the Ganymede when he had been exiled to Japan after losing his family's noble title, but he had quickly discovered very, very small inconsistencies with her background check when he had begun hiring servants. They were so small that had he been anyone else, the mistakes would have never been noticed.

Ruben hired the woman anyway and began investigating her more thoroughly than a simple background check would help with and he eventually learned about her mission.

He had called her into his office and actually _gave_ her the information she wanted in exchange for her staying on the job as his maid and to not take his life.

When Sayoko had asked about his reasons he said that after the way the Emperor so callously treated the death of Marianne, who he had been rather close to as her sponsor, he no longer felt any loyalty to Britannia.

Unfortunately, the information he gave her had been too late, and the attack that Japan had been expecting to come at the end of their contract with Britannia in December of 2010 had instead come in August.

Since he had given the information in the month of July, they had only managed to study the information for a month before the ones who had sent her on the mission were attacked and killed along with the rest of Japan's resistance at the time.

He had chosen Sayoko to be his servant after he learned all of this because he knew that having someone who could protect Nunnally as well as help him take care of her would be invaluable. Over the past seven years, she had proven to be one of the only people he could trust implicitly and he considered her a very valuable person to him for both her dedication and her loyalty to him.

"Sayoko, please don't talk like that." Lelouch hated it when someone who he was close to disregarded their own life as though it were worthless when he considered it precious. "Anyway, just please be careful. You are very valuable to me. I'll see you soon Sayoko."

"Of course young master." Then Sayoko's phone clicked shut and Lelouch sighed as he shut his own phone after turning on the cloaked GPS that would lead Sayoko to his location.

The things that could be done when you had months of free time and a technological genius as a guardian he mused. He wasn't much of an inventor, he had the mind and none of the mechanical skill, but when he had mentioned the idea of placing small tracking devices into his, Nunnally's, and Sayoko's phones so that they could all track each other if it were ever needed Ruben had delivered perfectly.

The man had greatly missed the freedom he had as the head of engineering at one of the most prestigious research institutes of Pendragon and had been dying to invent something again no matter what it was. So when Lelouch had come to him with his idea, the man had been ecstatic.

Within three months, the tracking devices had been installed in their phones and the man had even succeeded in making the signals completely invisible to any attempts at detection.

The signals were completely untraceable with any existing technology because they used existing signals and they rebounded until they found an identical signal, of which only the other two phones had, and once the connection was established the signals plotted the quickest course between each other. It couldn't be found because there wasn't anything to find according to the sensors that were used by anyone who would try to track it.

Lelouch turned to the green haired woman who had been silent while he talked to his maid. "Now then, since help is on the way we should probably get moving. I won't have Sayoko drive through this warzone and risk getting herself killed any more than she already is by coming to help us." He said as he leaned down and picked up her left arm and put it over his shoulder. "Until you are able to walk on your own, you can lean on me. I won't let the military capture you." He promised.

As he silently walked slowly through the tunnels underneath the Shinjuku Ghetto helping the mysterious woman he'd freed with Suzaku, Lelouch felt far calmer than he had in the past two hours. '_Maybe it's because I finally have a plan for getting out of this alive?_' He wondered. '_Or maybe it's because I've just become numb after seeing my closest friend murdered right in front of me._' As he let his mind wander the green haired woman let out an amused chuckle.

"Well aren't you a gallant one. Saving a mysterious woman whose name you don't even know and promising to protect her? You're quite the mister hero now aren't you? All we need is a dragon and it'd be a regular fairy tale." She said dryly.

Lelouch looked out of the corner of his eye at the woman as they continued walking. "Trust me woman, I'm no hero. I just refuse to let my closest friend's death be in vain. After we get out of this, I couldn't care less what you do with your life. Just make sure you live it knowing that my best friend died for you and if I find out you wasted the life he gave you, I swear I will find a way to make you pay." He never had been, and he never would be, a hero. His mind was far too distorted for him to be a hero to anyone and he knew it.

A hero wouldn't feel nothing but satisfaction as he broke the spirits of corrupt nobles, a hero wouldn't shoot soldiers remorselessly at nine years old to save his little sister and feel nothing but happiness that she was safe. But most of all, he knew a hero wouldn't be willing to burn down every single thing in the entire Ghetto until it was nothing but ashes if it meant his best friend would come back to life. No, he knew he would never be a hero.

The woman laughed at his threat as though she knew something he didn't. "How amusing, although I don't think there's anything you can do to me that the bastard Prince ruling this land hasn't already done."

Lelouch glared at the woman before she mentioned Clovis. His eyes then began roaming the woman who was leaning on his shoulder as they walked. She was almost his height and, although he could tell she was beautiful, with her emerald hair and golden eyes, he knew that Clovis wouldn't keep a woman under such heavy guard for such a petty reason. He looked at her intensely and she returned his gaze with equal strength, her golden amber orbs staring into his own violet.

They paused their walking next to a door that Lelouch assumed was originally meant to be used for maintenance and a small flight of stairs leading out of the tunnels as the exiled Prince asked a question that had been bothering him ever since this woman had fallen out of that poison gas capsule. "That reminds me, why exactly did Clovis lock you up so heavily and what did he do to you?" The mysterious woman merely gave him a smirk.

"Who knows, maybe I'll tell you someday." She said amusedly. She clearly wasn't going to tell him anything that easily.

Lelouch sighed at the woman's response. "Whatever, just stay here for now. I'm going to see if there are any guards above us. Hopefully, we can escape without being seen." He spoke as he set the woman down against the maintenance door.

As Lelouch crawled silently up the stairs, he heard rapid fire gunshots and a body collapse to the ground. He quickly ducked back down and motioned for the woman behind him to stay silent.

His eyes widened as he heard the voice of the bastard who shot Suzaku in the back. His body started trembling with anger as he repressed the urge to jump from his hiding place and strangle him if only because of the fact that he would die before even reaching the man.

Instead, he listened for anything he could use to make his and the woman's escape easier and he hoped that the soldiers would leave soon.

"You're sure of it? The tunnel they went through comes out here?" The leader asked.

One of the man's subordinates replied, "Yes sir. It matches up with our map of the old city."

Suddenly the sobbing of a little girl echoed throughout the warehouse they were in. Gunshots quickly silenced the little girl as Lelouch's eyes turned to ice. '_That's it! I don't care how, I don't care if I lose my life, but these sons of bitches are going to die!_' The only thing that Lelouch could think of right now was that little girl could have been Nunnally and his mind went white hot with pure rage.

Suddenly his phone rang before he could make his most likely suicidal charge. He quickly turned it off and turned to grab the woman and hide, but it was too late.

His school uniform's collar was grabbed and he was thrown to the ground from his place on the stairwell. He shouted, "Quickly woman, run!" Before he was punched in his gut.

He gasped for breath and saw the woman he tried to warn get grabbed by her long green hair as she was thrown a few feet to his left. The soldier who punched him picked him up by his collar and punched his cheek, throwing him back against the wall of the building.

Lelouch wiped his cheek and was relieved to see no blood for the moment. He then turned to his attackers and saw that two of them were pointing their assault rifles at the green haired woman and the rest were pointing their own at him. The leader walked past his men to the front and spoke to Lelouch.

"What an appropriate location for a terrorist to meet his end." The man said.

Lelouch growled at the bastard. "You scum, so you think that little girl was a terrorist?! You're nothing more than trash that gets off on killing innocent people!" He shouted crudely.

The man ignored him as he rambled on. "Still you did well for a student, but that's expected of a Britannian. Unfortunately my clever young friend, you have no future." The leader pointed his pistol– _the same pistol that murdered Suzaku_– at him and slowly pulled the trigger.

Lelouch flinched before glaring at the man as he prepared to die. He refused to die cowering before this bastard that had Suzaku and an innocent little girl murdered for no reason.

Just as the bullet was about to leave the chamber of the pistol the green haired woman quickly pushed her way passed the men holding her hostage, who had been distracted by the spectacle their leader was putting on, and jumped in the way and spread her arms as if to protect Lelouch.

"No, I will not allow you to kill him!" she shouted. The gun flashed and the bullet pierced the green haired woman's skull with a sickening pop.

Lelouch stared in shock as the woman who he had promised to protect collapse to the ground in front of him just as the corpse she had become should. Blood started to pool around her head as the bullet exited the back of her skull onto the floor.

The bullets used by the military only had a powerful initial piercing effect and it took a few seconds for the bullet to make an exit wound.

"You shot her." Lelouch mumbled in shock as he ran to kneel next to the woman as though he could do something to save her. The kind of shot that the woman had taken was almost instantly fatal. After all, she had been shot directly through her forehead and it was impossible to survive that. He stared at her body in shock as the leader of the Royal Guard spoke.

"Hmph. Our orders were to bring her back alive if possible." The man blinked as he mulled over what he could do to explain the situation to Prince Clovis. "Oh well, nothing can be done about it now. We'll tell our superiors that the Royal Guard found the terrorist hideout and killed them all, regrettably the female hostage had already been tortured to death." He smirked as he looked at the young Britannian student before him. "What do you think schoolboy?"

Lelouch's body trembled as he resisted the urge to take the woman's hand and try to feel for a pulse, knowing that there would be nothing to find. '_How can this be happening? My plan to have Sayoko take us out of here, my plan to save this woman for Suzaku, it's fallen apart. First Suzaku, then that little girl, now this woman. Now I'm about to die, before I've had a chance to a single thing with my life. It's gone in a heartbeat._' An image of his beloved little sister sitting in her wheelchair on a field of grass waiting for him flashed through his mind.

'_Nunnally!_' He couldn't afford to die here and leave her all alone! He refused to die here and leave Nunnally behind!

Suddenly the supposed to be dead woman's hand reached out and grabbed his own. Lelouch's eyes widened in shock surprise. '_What?!_' His mind flashed as he felt like his body was being dragged. A strange dark blue world flashed passed his eyes as he noticed what appeared to be pale blue strings attached to his wrists pulling him downward. Green lines flashed throughout the strange world as though he were inside a circuit board.

"You don't want it to end here do you?" The dead woman's voice echoed through his mind.

'_That's why she sounded so familiar. She was the voice I heard on top of the truck before I fell in!_' Lelouch realized.

Suddenly the blue world faded completely to white, leaving only himself floating in the strange abyss.

He then stared forward in shock as he saw the woman's upper torso, clearly naked with only her long hair covering even a part of her breasts, and yet he couldn't help but feel as though clothing simply didn't matter in this strange world. Besides, she was as white as the rest of the abyss, with him only able to identify her because he could see her outlined in dark lines like a sketch.

He looked down slightly and realized he looked the same, only he had his Ashford Academy uniform on even though it was just as white as everything else around him.

"You appear to have a reason for living." Her voice echoed strangely in this odd world. "If I grant you power, could you go on?"

Lelouch's mind responded almost instantly, '_Yes._' The result was instantaneous. He saw two enormous orbs – _planets maybe?_ – flash through his mind before being illuminated in a bright white light that somehow managed to avoid blinding him. The woman spoke once more.

"I propose a deal. In exchange for this power, you must agree to make my one wish come true. Accept this contract and you accept its conditions." Her voice then took a solemn tone. "While living in the world of humans, you will live unlike any other. A different providence, a different time, a different life."

Feathers then flashed through the strange air and Lelouch found himself floating in the empty white abyss once again.

A stone with a bird-like sigil and with a single line piercing right through the center flashed in his mind before the image once again changed in an instant.

This time he saw a large gathering of people dressed in pure white clothing with the same symbol on their foreheads, their eyes closed as if in prayer.

The third image flashed in an instant once more only this time it was of space and Lelouch saw a planet in the vision that greatly resembled Jupiter.

His mind once again flashed blue as he felt himself dragged once again. He listened as the woman spoke again, something sorrowful in her tone as though she wished to apologize for asking him of this. "The Power of the King will condemn you to a life of solitude. Are you prepared for this?" She asked him cautiously.

Golden flecks of light shown in the distance as Lelouch felt his mind once again assaulted by a vision from this strange world. Only this time, it was a vision of someone Lelouch recognized with a boiling hatred.

A deep voice echoed throughout the world as Lelouch glared at the Emperor's back in shock. The man was dressed in strange robes guarded by two figures dressed in identical garb. "A convergence with the Ragnarök Connection? So the myth is beginning once again?" The man's voice echoed just as the woman's did. Lelouch growled with rage.

"Yes, I hereby accept the terms of your contract!" Lelouch flourished his left arm dramatically as the world changed once more. Twin gears interlocked as the contract was accepted and Lelouch faded from the strange world back into what felt like his body once again. He would accept this power, and he would discover the Emperor's connection with it no matter what.

As knowledge of this new power, this _Geass_ as it was called, flew through his mind, he knew that he would need to be cautious with it. The knowledge that entered his mind appeared to be only the bare basics of it, so he'd have no idea of its weaknesses. The only thing other than basic knowledge of his new power that flashed through his mind was its name. The Geass of Absolute Obedience. He was smart enough to know the basics of what that entailed and he had his first test subjects right in front of him.

He calmly stood up and placed his hand on over his eyes. "Say, how should a Britannian who despises Britannia live his life?" He asked the Royal Guard rhetorically. The leader once again pointed his pistol at Lelouch.

"Are you some kind of radical?" The soldier was unnerved. The young Britannian's countenance had changed so quickly.

"What's wrong? Why not shoot? Your opponent is just schoolboy." Lelouch said coolly. His voice was as smooth and cold as ice. He smirked as the soldiers before him started shaking. Obviously, they had no knowledge of how to react to someone who showed confidence while surrounded by such large number of enemies without even being armed.

"Or have you finally realized? The only ones who should kill, are those prepared to be killed." He said with conviction as his left eye began to burn with his new power.

The soldiers before the exiled Prince began shaking in fear. "What's happening here?" The leader of the Royal Guard asked in a terrified voice.

Lelouch gestured toward them with his left hand, letting his wrist and fingers stay limp, "**Now, I Lelouch vi Britannia command you, now all of you, SUFFER AND DIE!**" He swung out his left arm with all the finality of an executioners axe. He maintained direct eye-contact with all of the soldiers as he felt his Geass exert its power over their minds, crushing any willpower they may have had to resist his command.

The building was silent for a single second before the first soldier started _screaming_. Soon all of the soldiers before the exiled Prince began screaming, begging for mercy, and sobbing as they _suffered_ at the whim of the enraged Prince. After what these men had done, Lelouch had no intention of letting them just die. No, he wanted them to suffer for every atrocity they'd ever committed until they were_ begging for the sweet relief of death!_

Lelouch laughed as he heard the first gunshot of a soldier committing suicide. While the remaining ones continued to scream. He laughed long and hard until every single one of the soldiers before him either died from shock or put a bullet through their skulls to end their pain. Their faces reflecting the terror they'd suffered before they died. Almost nothing had brought him this much joy than to see the suffering of these men before they inevitably lost their lives.

He knew it was twisted, _but he didn't care._ These men had killed Suzaku and an innocent little girl for absolutely no reason.

If he could he would have made these men suffer for all eternity, but he supposed that was the Devil's job now. He wondered if there truly was such a being and if it would enjoy the gift Lelouch had given it. No matter. '_If there isn't a Devil, then I shall become Him. I shall make all those who caused pain to the undeserving suffer for their sins before they die._' He thought before he realized something. '_Whoa, I need to calm down. I still don't know the limits of this power yet. I can't use it recklessly._' He took a deep breath as he calmed down from his power trip.

It wouldn't be very good if someone came across him cutting loose with this power. He couldn't have anyone realize his instability. He wouldn't be able to change anything in this rotten world if he was locked up in an insane asylum.

He turned to look at the woman who had given him both the gift of life and his new Geass. His eyes turned solemn as he took in her cooling body. '_I thank you for this, whoever you might be. I'm sorry I didn't treat you better for the brief time I knew you. I wish I had learned your name. You were kind enough to sacrifice your life for my own, and endow me with this amazing ability. I hope, whoever you are, that you can rest in peace. I will do the best I can to use these gifts you have given me and make this world change so innocent people like you don't have to die. I'm sorry that I won't be able to fulfill your request and grant your one wish, but if there is such a way I can do it with you gone, I will do my best to grant it in your memory. It's the least I can do for you after what you've done for me. I promise, just like with Suzaku, once I can end this massacre, I will return for your body so I may lay it to rest properly. Until then, wait for me, my savior._' Lelouch didn't speak his eulogy to the young woman aloud, because she was unable to hear it anyway, but he felt that this woman deserved to be respected for her sacrifice. She had given him much, and so he would remember this nameless woman with honor.

Suddenly the wall to his left exploded inward as a Knightmare, one of the new Sutherlands he believed, burst into the building. As the smoke cleared, he saw the Factsphere, the computer that scanned the area for allies and enemies, open up to allow the pilot to get a better look at the inside of the building. '_Well then, I suppose now would be a good time to see if my Geass requires physical eye-contact or if it can work through a machine like a Knightmare._' Lelouch thought to himself. He needed to familiarize himself with his new ability quickly if he was going to use it to end this massacre.

"What happened here boy?!" A woman's voice blared from the speakers in the Sutherland. "And why is a Britannian student in a place like this?!"

Lelouch didn't answer as he contemplated his options, he couldn't afford to screw this up. The woman's voice blared over the speakers once again, "Are you deaf? Answer me or I'll shoot!"

Lelouch narrowed his eyes and grimaced at the hot-headed pilot. The Sutherland's gun open fired on the ground surrounding Lelouch as though to warn him to not even try to escape.

Unfortunately for the only living occupants of the building, that was the last thing that was the structurally unstable building could handle. The ground underneath their feet began crumbling and as they fell well over thirty six feet downward into a hidden level of the building.

As Lelouch fell through the air, his body reacted before his mind, just as Todoh had taught him.

He kicked off the slab of stone, pushing his body into the air and to the right, used the falling stones around him as platforms to make sure that he didn't land directly on the floor and break his legs.

As he jumped from stone to stone, barely maintaining the momentum that was keeping him in the air and alive, he saw all the bodies as well as the Sutherland plummeting to the floor that was fast approaching.

He couldn't make out any details of where they were about to land, but he saw a spot that would allow him to get rid of his excess momentum once he landed without too much trouble. Still, he'd have wished for a place more open than the small ten foot area he'd seen.

He quickly pushed off the stone he had been standing on once they were just over ten feet from the ground. He made sure to position his feet so he landed heel to toe and bent his knees before rolling forward to absorb the impact of his landing.

His legs were practically on fire as he stood up before he could collapse, and he was sure he'd be feeling that in the morning if he survived till tomorrow, but he would live for now. Luckily he hadn't sprained anything or broken any bones. The same couldn't be said for the Sutherland.

Knightmares were generally very top-heavy because of all the necessary protection needed for the pilot in the ejection pod, but the legs usually needed to be more maneuverable. So they were normally less armored, and thus less heavy, than the upper torso of the Frame.

That meant that the woman in the Sutherland had no way of balancing her Frame after falling into the open air as her Frame's top half was pulled down by gravity. She had tried to fire her Slash Harkens, but she missed her, he assumed, target of the ceiling and ended up sending them directly into the wall, bringing down more debris on top of her Knightmare.

The pilot in the Sutherland groaned incoherently over her speakers and Lelouch figured that she must have hit her head on the inside of her cockpit when she landed, knocking herself out. The Knightmare itself wasn't too heavily damaged, but it was definitely going to need to be fixed up.

Lelouch turned his attention from the Sutherland and its pilot as he tried to adjust to his new surroundings. The light from the ceiling of the building barely illuminated portions of what appeared to be a lab. Lelouch looked in the opposite direction of the Knightmare Frame and noticed rows and rows of computers, the kinds that were usually used by research teams that needed to observe many different things at once.

In each row there were at least five computers and there were thick cords attached to the monitors that led up to a strange container that had been shattered. Whatever had been placed inside that container was definitely not inside of it anymore.

What surprised Lelouch the most though was how old the technology was. '_Incredible, this technology is at least seven years old. Just what the hell was being created here? Was Japan trying to create its own Knightmare Frame before they were discovered or something?_'

Most of the computers he saw had their screens destroyed, deliberately as far as he could tell, but there was one that was somehow activated. Its light blue screen drew Lelouch's attention. It was the only thing that was still active in the laboratory and he was curious about what he would find on it. '_Our landing must have triggered some kind of reaction and activated a backup generator or something._'

As Lelouch stepped away from where he landed he felt his legs burning from all the exertion he had forced them through today. '_Damn, my legs are killing me. But I can't afford to rest, not yet. I still need to stop this massacre._' Lelouch powered through the pain as he made his way toward the only active computer.

Lelouch let out a startled yelp as he felt something crunch under his foot. As he looked down, he saw a skeleton dressed in a lab coat under his foot. He almost shouted in surprise, but he maintained his composure. '_Okay, these guys have definitely been dead for a long time. If I'm right, this scientist, whoever it was, died seven years ago when this place was discovered._' Lelouch then noticed the arm of the scientist bent at an odd angle with a single pair of handcuffs attached to a briefcase.

Lelouch's eyes widened as he saw the machine attached to the top of the briefcase. '_That's a liquid Sakuradite container! If anyone tried to open the briefcase without the proper key, it would have turned everyone here into dust!_' Luckily the Sakuradite seemed to have drained out of a small hole that had been created when the glass decomposed over such an extended period of time exposed to raw, liquid Sakuradite.

'_Just what were they making here?_' Lelouch made his way to the computer, wary of stepping on any more skeletons as he looked around the lab more.

Since he was used to the darkness now, his eyes had finally adjusted properly, he could make out the corpses that had fallen from above and other bodies had been there for the past few years.

He pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he made his way to the only source of information that was available. '_If I want to learn anything about this place, I better start with that computer._' Lelouch pushed the skeleton that was seated in the chair in front of the monitor off of it and sat down, ignoring the clattering of the bones as he started up the computer.

"Okay, now let's see what was going on here." Lelouch murmured to himself as he watched the computer start itself up according to the commands he typed into the keyboard.

After working on the supercomputer below Ashford Academy and piloting the Ganymede Knightmare Frame for some of Milly's insane parties, a seven year old computer was simple for Lelouch to use. He effortlessly hacked through the security firewalls before he stumbled upon a file labeled _Project: Zero_.

"Hmm, what's this little gem?" He wondered thoughtfully. Maybe it was what all these scientists had been working that had gotten them killed. He had noticed the skeletons of some Britannian soldiers as well, so he had a feeling that whoever had discovered this place for the Britannians hadn't survived the war or Britannia would have raided this place years ago.

His eyes widened as he took in the extremely detailed description of _Project: Zero_. "Our answer to the Humanoid Autonomous Armored Robot informally called the Knightmare Frame." Lelouch snorted at the comment 'informally'. This was definitely made seven years ago.

The term Knightmare Frame quickly became the formal way of referring to the machine once people got sick of the mouthful that was the original name. "The Zero Armor is our only hope to stave off the invasion of the Britannian Empire. Unfortunately, this mechanical marvel is too expensive and too difficult to control to be implemented effectively with our regular soldiers and we have only managed to create one successfully working model."

"It requires an enormous IQ to be properly utilized to its fullest potential and the Zero Armor also requires the user to have reflexes that work faster than a mind of such a level could normally react. There is no one currently in our military that could fulfill both of these requirements and if the Zero Armor cannot be used to its fullest potential we will not allow its usage. We cannot allow Britannia to get its hands on our D.O.M Hostia system–" Lelouch hummed in mild confusion as he reduced the size of the window that he was using and searched the available files for the 'D.O.M Hostia system'.

He found it, but he noticed that there was a warning in red next to the link. It said _File Corrupted_ and Lelouch frowned as he realized that the information was most likely destroyed after having been corrupted for so long.

He returned to the file he was reading after re-sizing the page properly. He quickly found his place and continued reading from where he'd left off. "– nor can we allow them to get their hands on the materials that make up the Zero Armor. Throughout all of our testing, we have been unable to find anything that managed to do harm to the Zero Armor and we have begun to believe that we accidentally created an indestructible material. Not even a controlled explosion of Sakuradite managed to harm the Zero Armor, although we did not have anyone inside of it at the time so we are unaware of how much the armor would be able to protect its wearer."

Lelouch stopped reading in shock as he leaned back to try and process that these scientists had managed to _accidentally_ create a possibly indestructible armor. '_There's no way– if this had been even a fraction easier for someone to use, Japan would have put up a much more difficult fight against Britannia. Hell, they may have even been able to drive the Britannian military away if they could have mass produced this armor._'

He quickly returned his attention to the file. "The Zero Armor can assist the wearer in feats of strength, speed, and stamina that the wearer would normally be unable to perform, but at the cost of draining the power source of the Zero Armor proportionate to the amount of extra strength, speed, or stamina that is needed to assist the wearer."

"The boots of the Zero Armor are capable of temporarily attaching the wearer to walls and ceilings using an electromagnetic field to attach the wearer to the surface and allow them to temporarily defy gravity. (Note: This feature drains the power source of the Zero Armor exceedingly quickly so the wearer is advised to use this feature only when absolutely necessary.)"

"The cloak of the Zero Armor is our answer to the Knightmare Frames Slash Harkens. The cloak is able to divide itself into a finite number of whips that are made of the same material as the Zero Armor. As far as we have tested, these whips are equal in range and ability to the Slash Harken, but they are unable to match the Slash Harken in strength and piercing power."

"The helmet of the Zero Armor is the most important part of our creation. The helmet has a built-in miniaturized Heads-Up Display in the upper right corner that clearly displays the current level of functions that the Zero Armor is capable of in real time and once the helmet has the specs of a Knightmare Frame the Zero Armor is capable of utilizing the D.O.M Host- (_This Section of File has been corrupted_). The helmet is directly interfaced with the user's brainwaves, but since a stray thought could endanger the wearer while in combat a function has been added that requires a clear concise order for the Zero Armor to process the command." Lelouch frowned as he noticed the rest of the file was completely corrupted.

He closed the _Project: Zero_ file and searched the database to see if there were any other files on the computer were able to be accessed.

He only found one and it the only link that was completely blank on its label. He frowned as he realized that this was the only file remaining in the database that hadn't been virtually destroyed by whatever virus the scientists had used to destroy their information regarding the Zero Armor. "Well, I suppose I've seen everything else I could have, I may as well check this out too." So he clicked the link.

A video screen popped up on the monitor and Lelouch realized that it was a file depicting a scene from a security camera.

Lelouch saw the remaining scientists in a dimly lit room that he realized was the laboratory he was in only how it was seven years ago. Before everyone involved had ended up dead. He was unable to hear any words being spoken, but he saw the scientists arguing with each other.

The capsule that was shattered in the current time was perfectly fine in the video and it was glowing the ominous pink of Sakuradite as a menacing looking black armor floated inside of it, held upright by plugs inputted into certain points of the armor feeding in the pink liquid.

He realized in shock that the power source the mentioned in the file was liquid Sakuradite. '_Were they insane? Or did they find some way to refine the material in such a way that it could safely be used?_' He wondered.

He watched silently as a small light on the computer next to the chamber where the armor floated flashed green. The liquid material was drained beneath the container, before the bottom door to the lab was kicked in and the scientist who had been sitting in the chair when Lelouch pushed him off was shot in the back of the head and a second shot shattered the chamber where the Zero Armor was stored.

To their credit, despite clearly not being used to live combat, the scientists reacted with remarkable efficiency as soldiers burst in shooting at anything that so much as twitched wrong and they quickly pulled themselves together despite their earlier argument and grabbed the Zero Armor and its helmet before the enemy could get their hands on it.

They quickly put both in a briefcase that Lelouch recognized as the one attached to the skeleton he'd stepped on earlier, and handcuffed it to one of their own. As the woman who had it attached to her fiddled with the liquid Sakuradite container on the case the other scientists pulled out their own weapons and returned fire managing to take down the leader of the enemy with a lucky shot.

Once briefcase was armed, the woman made a run for the door before she was shot in the back by one of her allies, the traitor who had let Britannia know of the secret project obviously, before his own head was shot by one of the Britannian soldiers.

No one moved to take the briefcase since all those involved clearly recognized the danger that the liquid Sakuradite presented and the scene quickly devolved into a firefight of pure anger and other violent emotions between both parties.

Lelouch watched passively as he witnessed both sides take each other out leaving absolutely no survivors in the room to leave and speak of the project.

Lelouch sighed as he digested all the knowledge that he had learned before he heard the female pilot in the Sutherland begin to regain consciousness as she groaned over her still active speakers from her clearly splitting headache.

He shut off the computer and quickly looked around. He spotted something useful out of the corner of his eye. He picked up the metal pipe and smashed the only working computer until it shut down and sparks flew off the monitor. He couldn't afford to have anyone else discover this place and find out about the Zero Armor. He quickly placed the pipe on the ground and turned to face the Knightmare Frame.

"What's going on?" The woman groaned over her speakers. She was clearly in pain and disoriented; something that Lelouch planned to use to his advantage.

"What's going on is that you attacked me!" Lelouch shouted in a haughty voice. "You almost killed me you incompetent soldier!"

"Why should I care about that kid?" The woman growled in irritation. Good, that meant she'd play right into his hands.

"I'll tell you why you should care! **You should know me as Alan Spacer; my father is in the nobility!**" Lelouch felt the burning in his left eye as his Geass activated and sped toward his target. '_Now it's time to see if my Geass can be used to affect those not directly making eye-contact with me._' Lelouch thought to himself.

He was unsure if his Geass could make people believe lies were truth so he twisted his words into an order while making sure to emphasize that his father was a nobleman just in case his Geass didn't work. Albeit, his birth father was pretty much _the_ nobleman as the Emperor, but it was merely a technicality.

He frowned as he felt no connection established between himself and his target to suppress their will. He had noticed when he used his Geass on the soldiers a minor psychic connection had been established as his will overpowered theirs and forced them to obey his commands.

He felt no such connection form as the woman left her Sutherland apologizing and calling him, "Your Grace, I'm deeply apologize for my earlier actions. I have run into nothing but terrorists and filthy Elevens throughout this damn Ghetto and I was surprised to find a Britannian here. I had no idea this structure was so weak. Had I known that you were the son of a nobleman I would have never attacked you milord."

Lelouch frowned at the woman's words. Just another person completely subsumed by Britannia's corrupt ideology. Still, he could make use of her. "It is of no importance." Lelouch spoke to the woman calmly. Once he saw her form visibly relax, he activated his Geass. "**Now, you will answer my questions.**"

The woman quickly fell under his thrall. "Of course, milord." She replied woodenly.

"**What is your name, station, and current mission?**" He asked as he maintained direct eye-contact.

"My name is Villetta Nu, my rank is Knight and I am a member of the Purist Faction serving under Lord Jeremiah Gottwald, and my current mission is the eradication of the Shinjuku Ghetto by the order of his Royal Highness Prince Clovis." She responded formally.

Lelouch frowned as he heard the woman mention the name Jeremiah and her current mission. The name seemed familiar to him for some reason but he discarded the matter with a thought as he focused on the more important subject currently.

It seemed Clovis was as desperate to recapture the green haired woman as he had believed. He made sure he maintained direct eye-contact with the woman as he thought through the information she had given him.

Since she had no reaction since he gave his first order he assumed that as long as he maintained eye contact she was under his complete control for the duration of his Geass' current usage. If he broke the eye-contact he may have to reinitiate his Geass commands to put her back under his control.

Though it would be annoying if he had to keep finding her to reinitiate his commands to her with direct eye contact, maybe his Geass could be used to input sleeper commands? It was worth a shot.

But first things first, he needed to see if his Geass could make his target believe lies to be truth. If that were the case, it would be even more valuable than he originally thought. "**My name is Alan Spacer.**" Lelouch lied. "**And you have been my slave since the day I was born. Do you acknowledge this as the truth Villetta? Maintain eye-contact as you respond.**" He needed to test the extremes that his Geass was capable of and if it could completely subvert someone's free will even if the command was a lie this power would become his greatest tool.

Villetta knelt down on her hands and knees and lowered her head position until her throat almost touched the ground as she maintained eye-contact and looked up at him worshipfully. "Of course this one acknowledges that as the truth Master. This one has always been Master's most loyal slave." His target said submissively. "How may this slave please Master?" She spoke with small hopeful smile. "Please, order this one to please Master in anyway this slave can."

'_Unbelievable, this power is amazing!_' Lelouch thought as he saw the woman submit completely to him by his command. '_Now then, to input those sleeper commands and end this massacre._'

Lelouch allowed a terrible smile to come across his face while keeping his eye-contact with his new slave. He gave Villetta his next commands. "**Stand up and give me all the weapons you have on you right now.**" He couldn't have her armed if this failed after all.

When she stood up with a "Yes Master.", giving him her sidearm, a combat knife attached to her thigh inside her thigh-high purple boots, and making him almost blush when she pulled another concealed knife from her cleavage; he finished the rest of his commands.

"**I am your Master, but you will only acknowledge me as such when you are under my control. Otherwise you will act as though I were just another Britannian.**" He needed to make sure she didn't call him Master if she ever spotted him while walking down the street or something. That would be an embarrassing oversight.

"**When I, and I alone, say the phrase 'Traitorous White Queen' you will obey my every command as my slave and you will once again be under my complete control.**" With the command phrase established all he needed to do next was add specifics and a release phrase.

"**You will retain absolutely no memory of your time under my control unless I allow you to and even then you shall never speak of it to anyone except for your Master when we are alone and only with your Master's expressed permission.**" He couldn't afford to have her retain any memory of these encounters or she could end up a major thorn in his side in the future. However, if he needed to have her remember something, he needed to make sure that she could recall if he needed her to. He wasn't sure how a mind influenced by his Geass could handle a logical paradox.

"**You will acknowledge the phrase by saying 'How may this one be of service to you Master?' and you will kneel before me as you did earlier if you are alone in your Master's presence.** **When y****ou hear the command phrase 'Traitorous White Queen' over the phone or another communication device that your Master is using to contact you, you will simply say the phrase "This one hears and obeys Master." and acknowledge your Master's orders.**" By having specific actions she needed to perform if she were under his control, he would be able to test to see if she were ever faking her response to him.

"**When I, and I alone, say the phrase, 'Black Pawn's Release' you will be released from my control and act as you normally do.**" Now with the release phrase in place he needed to set up other conditions for her to successfully fulfill any orders he gave her without being caught and exposed.

"**You will fulfill any orders I gave you during your time under my control when you are alone and you will destroy all evidence of your tampering after you complete your orders. You will retain no memory of following my orders while you are free from my control and you will eliminate any witnesses thoroughly and without hesitation should you be noticed while obeying my commands and are unable to explain your way out of it without compromising your Master or your position as my slave.**" This would make sure she didn't end up killing anyone that may be too important or useful to him later on unless absolutely necessary. Since she was a Knight she was at the very least competent so she should be able to come up with suitable reasons on her own.

"**You will eliminate any evidence of their termination that can be linked back to either you or your Master; instead placing evidence that will lead to a proper scapegoat and you will arrange a meeting between your Master and the chosen scapegoat.**" By having a scapegoat in place she would be able to continue to serve him and he would be able to force the scapegoat to obey him and admit to the crime since his Geass could make lies become truth to the target.

"**In place of all the memories that you will no longer have, your mind will come up with suitable, non-contradicting memories in place of the ones that no longer exist.**" His final command was to make sure to add a memory clause since huge blanks of memory would make anyone seek help and he wasn't sure if hypnosis could be used to have a target recall the memories of their time under his control.

Lelouch needed to make sure he left detailed, but open ended orders so that he would be able to take advantage of them in the future. '_Now to see if my sleeper commands worked._' He blinked and broke his eye contact.

The silver haired woman blinked and shook her head as though she had a headache. "Ugh, why does my head hurt so much?" She wondered.

Lelouch frowned. '_Interesting, so large and complex orders can cause the target some discomfort in the form of a headache. Or maybe it's merely the extreme altering I've done to make her the perfect slave? Either way, I better make sure to not do this often. I can't afford to mix up commands with the wrong puppet._' He supposed it was lucky that this Villetta woman had such distinctive appearance. He could definitely see that she was beautiful and he definitely would be able to pick her out of a crowd easily. Still, her personality and inherent racism made him annoyed with her.

Maybe he could change her? No, that would be too sudden and unexplainable. It would probably be best if he avoided too many major changes to his targets. He couldn't afford to have anyone become suspicious of his new power, especially since the Emperor was clearly aware of the nature of Geass even if he may not have had one. It wouldn't be good if he drew the bastard's attention by completely subverting his entire military force in the region.

"Hey, what's going on here kid? And when did I leave my Sutherland?" She asked in irritation and confusion.

"**Traitorous White Queen.**" Lelouch calmly spoke as he had another realization. '_So it seems my Geass erases the memory of the target up to a few minutes before first the command is given._'

Lelouch smirked as Villetta knelt down as she had earlier and spoke submissively, "How may this one be of service to you Master?"

'_Good, it worked perfectly._' Lelouch thought darkly, '_Now, to end this massacre before any more innocent people get killed by Clovis' pride._'

"Well, well, well. I see you've wasted no time in using the gift I've given you." A voice Lelouch thought he'd never hear again spoke amusedly. "So do you like it? Does the Power of the King make you satisfied?"

Lelouch spoke at Villetta before he could make any mistakes and accidentally break his newest slave. "**Stand up and give me your contact information.**" Once Lelouch committed his new slave's contact information to memory, he gave the woman his final order for now."**Now give me your Sutherland and leave this place. When you get a phone call from a number you don't recognize you will feel a compulsion to answer it in private. Once you meet a Britannian soldier, you will react as though I gave you the command that will release you from my control just this once. You will have no memory of anything that happened while you were in this building.**" He spoke quickly.

"Understood Master." The silver haired woman tossed her Master her Sutherland's key. "The activation code is XG-21-G2-D4." She then walked placidly toward the staircase that led to the upper exit that Lelouch had thought was a maintenance door earlier.

Lelouch ignored his sleeper agent as she walked away and turned to the woman behind him. "Now, I'd appreciate it if you told me how you're still alive. Humans can't survive a direct bullet to the skull when fired from any type of gun."

His eyes took in the woman who he thought had died for him not even a half hour ago. She looked exactly the same, as though she hadn't taken a fatal gunshot that had saved his life. "So just what are you woman?"

The woman chuckled amusedly. "Why, my dear accomplice, I am called a witch. As to how I survived, that's simple." She looked at Lelouch and smiled. "I'm unable to die. I am immortal. Now, it's your turn to answer my questions. Are you satisfied with my gift? Your Geass?"

Lelouch frowned at the woman's explanation. '_I guess the proof is right in front of me. Even if she had somehow survived the bullet to her skull, there is no way she could have survived the fall down here without doing something similar to what I did and her body didn't move at all while she fell through the air._' He sighed. '_I guess that means she isn't lying._'

Lelouch responded cautiously, "Yes, I am definitely satisfied with this power so far. It's accelerated my plans by years and I appreciate it very much." It was probably best to be cautious with this woman if she was unable to die. He doubted that he could get rid of her all that easily without the simple limitation that was death.

Although this answered his question about why Clovis had her imprisoned, but he was still in the dark at what Clovis had done to her. "So, _accomplice_, do you have a name or should I simply call you my immortal witch?" Because she was most definitely not a guardian angel.

The woman gave Lelouch a small smile. He figured that after however long Clovis kept her prisoner had prevented her from having a civilized conversation with anyone. "You may call me C.C., my contractor. I am very interested in these plans of yours. Would you care to tell me about them? After all, we are accomplices now."

Lelouch froze as a name similar to her own flashed through his mind. It had been seven years, but he would never forget that one sentence.

"_Why did you kill Marianne V.V?_"

'_Why does her name mirror that man's? Could she be associated with him in some way? Either way, I can't afford to show any reaction to her name._' Lelouch thought quickly. '_Besides, she's an enemy of Britannia, or at the very least most likely feels nothing positive for the country, so I suppose she may be a useful ally for now. However, I must be cautious around her._' He decided he'd act as though the name meant nothing to him until he could properly speak with C.C. later.

Lelouch stepped toward the briefcase that contained the Zero Armor and stepped on the skeleton's arm that was still attached to the case, crushing it. "Since you're an enemy of the Britannian military, if not the entirety of the Empire, and I doubt you'd be very quick to answer my own questions if I refused to answer your own I suppose I can let you in on part of my plan." He picked up a stray pipe and bashed it against the locks on the briefcase. Having been seven years old, they shattered after the second strike.

He knelt down and opened the case slowly, savoring the moment. Inside the case on the upper part were a large number of small containers that greatly resembled miniaturized Energy Fillers that were used by Knightmare Frames, while the lower part of the case contained the neatly folded Zero Armor with the Zero helmet placed on top of it.

He began loosening his clothing, not bothering to ask the witch to avert her eyes since he was positive she had seen everything the male body had to offer if she had truly lived for such a long time and he doubted that she'd acquiesce to his request anyway. He carefully placed the terrorist communicator he had taken from the truck and his slave's Sutherland key on the ground as he removed the jacket of his school uniform revealing a simple black long sleeved t-shirt underneath.

He then removed his lower clothing, leaving him only in his boxers and t-shirt, and took out the Zero Armor and realized something interesting. '_Hm, so it's all a single suit of armor and yet it's extremely flexible as well. The boots aren't even boots, just the lower portion of the legs of the armor and the greaves._' He let the top half hang as he put on the lower portion of the armor, feeling it fit onto his legs snugly as he pulled it up.

He then slid his arms through the top half of the armor and zipped it up, covering his entire body save his head in the indestructible material with the cloak flowing dramatically over his shoulders. The collar was annoyingly high, but he supposed he'd need to just deal with it. He motioned with his arms as he got used to his new armor and realized something strange. '_It seemed like it would be looser on me before I put it on. Could it have tightened up on me as I was putting it on to fit me better?_' It seemed that the material used by the scientists adjusted itself according to its wearer; that was an interesting fact.

He silently folded his clothes up, putting the mini-Energy Fillers inside his Ashford Academy jacket as he folded it up along with his pants and shoes, and placed them carefully into the case. Luckily for him, he'd only broken the security lock on the case meaning it could still hold itself closed just fine. He picked up the case and placed it upright on the ground before he picked up the Zero helmet and the communicator. He then turned to the suspiciously silent woman behind him.

"I'm going to use my Geass, the terrorists, and this armor to end this massacre and kill Clovis." He stated calmly as he placed the helmet over his face, answering her earlier inquiry before his impromptu costume change.

C.C. simply chuckled at him. "My, my, have you no shame? Changing in front of a woman without any warning. Such a naughty boy you are." She teased.

His new mask merely stared at the woman. "Feeling shame before an immortal woman who has most likely already seen everything the male form has to offer in her long life? Such a useless emotion." Lelouch spoke and the voice modulator made his voice sound deeper and more robotic. "Besides, I harbor no illusions that I'm anything special." He chuckled self-deprecatingly.

He picked up the communicator, the key, and the case and walked toward the prone form of his current Knightmare Frame. "Do you want to come and enjoy the show, C.C.?" Lelouch offered as he felt her name roll off his tongue surprisingly smoothly.

The witch laughed darkly as she walked toward him and the Sutherland. "You are surprisingly interesting." She observed. "As long as you manage to humiliate that bastard Prince and get out of this alive I will allow you to do anything you want for a single night. No limits." She spoke seductively.

Lelouch paused in reaction to the witch's teasing. But not for the reason she believed. '_Maybe I can get her to answer my questions regarding V.V. and my Geass._' It's not that he wasn't tempted to follow up on the clear offer, but he wasn't interested in her that way for the moment. He barely knew her and he would never have sex with someone he didn't trust implicitly, especially considering his nature as a supposedly dead Prince. He couldn't afford to risk such an intimate relationship without someone who he could trust with his life.

"Temptress," he muttered amusedly, "I may take you up on that offer." After all, Clovis had never managed to defeat Lelouch at chess in a single game when they were children. And what was war but one big game where the soldiers were the pieces and luck and skill as the players.

He attached his foot to the zip-line that would take him to the cockpit of the Knightmare and reached out his arm for the immortal to take. "Now come, my dear witch, we have a massacre to end and a Prince to kill."

She gave a small devious smile as she took his hand and he pushed the button to take retract the line to pull them into the cockpit. She held herself against him with his arm around her waist and her own arms around his neck.

'_Now Clovis, let the game begin. Let's see if you've improved your skills while I've been gone, my dear big brother._' Lelouch thought sinisterly.

* * *

(Shinjuku Ghetto, Area Eleven – Abandoned Building – 1:48 pm – September 11 – 2017 a.t.b)

The cockpit of Lelouch's Sutherland was just large enough to accommodate both him and C.C., but it was a tight fit. C.C. was forced to either sit behind Lelouch on a smaller chair that was behind the command chair or to sit in the exiled Prince's lap.

Of course, the temptress decided to take her position on his lap, sitting sideways so as to not block the monitor that Lelouch needed to use in order to properly identify enemy positions.

Luckily for Lelouch, his Sutherland's IFF Transponder, or the Identify Friend/Foe Transponder, was damaged from the fall, meaning that the enemy's radar would be unable to pick up his Knightmare giving him a very large advantage in stealth as long as his Frame wasn't clearly visible.

Lelouch was currently monitoring the chatter going on over both the radio he had obtained from the terrorists and the communications that the military were sending over their own channels while waiting in an abandoned building in the former business district of the Shinjuku Ghetto.

It was clear to Lelouch that the terrorists were getting desperate, having diverted a large portion of their manpower to evacuating the civilians, they were unable to properly deal with the military's attacks. It wasn't the most tactical decision. Still, it earned them Lelouch's respect.

Clearly these weren't the types of terrorists that had assaulted the tower he'd seen on the screen almost two hours ago. These people would rather lose here than let the innocents die to claim victory and it made Lelouch even more sure of his decision to aid them. They would be the first soldiers in his new army.

He heard the commotion that the military were making over a red Glasgow Frame and noticed something on his Sutherland's monitor that would greatly help the terrorists on their way to victory.

Lelouch then spoke to the witch in his lap, "Don't speak while I'm directing the terrorists, I will need to focus to get them to trust me and if you distract me I may make a mistake."

C.C. looked at him with half-lidded eyes. "Of course." She spoke simply.

Lelouch spoke into the radio on the frequency of the red-haired woman in the Knightmare Frame. She was a very good pilot, having been able to avoid the two Sutherlands pursuing her for an extended period of time. "The West entrance. Use the tracks to move to the West entrance." He ordered calmly, trusting the communicator to disguise his voice well enough. If she followed his command it would put her in the perfect position for him to aid her and to take his gift to the resistance.

He had taken off the mask of his armor once it became clear that it would serve no current purpose, he hadn't figured out how to activate it properly yet, but his new armor seemed to be working fine despite his lack of mental connection with it. The materials it was made up of were very lightweight despite their strength.

"What? Who is this?! How do you know this code?!" The pilot responded. Her voice sounded distraught and Lelouch couldn't blame her. He had been much the same way when he, Suzaku, and Nunnally had traversed the country looking for safety during the invasion.

Lelouch ignored the distraught woman's questions as he delivered his response. "That doesn't matter. If you want to win, you're just going to have to trust me."

The woman's gasp was audible over the radio. "To win?" She murmured in shock.

Lelouch stayed silent for a moment before he saw her follow his orders. As she was riding on the tracks, he contacted the rest of the available resistance members and ordered them to get in position on the tracks. He quickly delivered their orders and returned his attention to the Glasgow pilot as she contacted him again.

"Okay, what am I supposed to do now?" She asked. She seemed much calmer this time.

He waited until his gift got closer… '_Perfect._' The train was heading toward the woman fast and Lelouch quickly spoke over the communicator. "Since you trusted me, you're gonna win. Jump onto the train!"

"Gotcha!" The woman responded as she followed his order perfectly.

'_Yes, this woman, Kallen if from what I heard in the truck is right, is an excellent pilot. If she had a better Knightmare Frame she would wipe the floor with those two Sutherlands._' Lelouch thought to himself.

He quickly fired a Slash Harken at the Sutherland that jumped over the one slowing down the train to pursue Kallen. He managed to destroy the head of the frame but he missed his target of the cockpit. However, he felt that was a moot point once he saw the Frame bounce off the tracks.

He ended up drawing the attention of the second Sutherland with that action though. "What's your name and your unit?!" The male pilot blared over his speakers.

Lelouch ignored him as he positioned his Frame's assault weapon and opened fire. "We're after the one armed Glasg–" The pilot was cut off as his Frame was severely damaged, as well as losing one of its Landspinners, from the rounds fired from his Knightmare.

"Oh my God. A terrorist?!" The enemy Sutherland turned and aimed its own assault weapon at Lelouch. "You son of a –" The pilot attempted to curse before Kallen managed to surprise both Lelouch and his enemy by returning with the Glasgow and forcing the enemy pilot to eject or die.

Obviously the man chose to eject and live to fight another day.

Lelouch quickly left his vantage point as he searched for another suitable position to get a proper view of the battlefield. '_A sniper should never stay in the same place for long after taking his first shot. He should always leave quickly and search for another area where he can get a proper view of his enemies if possible._' Lelouch mentally quoted from a strategy book he'd read before.

'_I'm not exactly a sniper, but the situation is more than similar enough for me to use the same strategy._' Once he quickly found another position in a different abandoned building, he reinitiated contact with his allies.

He quickly spoke over the radio on a separate frequency. He needed to find the one who led these guys and get him or her to agree to follow his orders or the danger of infighting amongst his new allies would be very real. "Are you in charge?"

"Uh, yeah." A man's voice spoke over the radio.

'_Perfect._' Lelouch then spoke clearly over his radio to the leader of his allies, "I present to you the cargo in that train over there, think of it as a gift. They will be the tools for our victory. However, if you accept them, you will need to follow my orders. Do you accept my offer?"

He knew that it was an offer they couldn't refuse. After all, how many chances did a group that wasn't the JLF get to arm themselves with brand new state of the art Sutherland Knightmare Frames?

However, the man surprised Lelouch by asking him a question.

"Before I agree to give you the right of leadership over our group, tell me this. How did you get a hold of your communicator?" The man was obviously cautious and Lelouch couldn't blame him. He knew all this seemed too good to be true.

However, he needed to be careful that he didn't mention that he'd been involved ever since he'd fallen into their truck in the Settlement. They would realize that he wasn't Japanese and he doubted they would trust him after that before he built up some credibility for himself.

He easily came up with exactly how he would respond without lying, but it would take some serious twisting of his words. "I found it in a truck." He said honestly. "I don't think the owner is alive anymore since the truck was clearly blown up."

He hadn't lied because he was speaking of the owner of the truck, not the radio, with his second sentence. There was also the fact that the explosion had made it rather clear to him that the truck was definitely blown up.

He decided to try and give them some form of comfort. "You have my sympathies." If he managed seem more understanding of their plight they would be more willing to trust him. Of course they really did have his sympathies, he knew what loss felt like after all, but that didn't mean he wouldn't use the opportunity to his advantage and elevate their perception of him.

"I see." The leader spoke simply. Lelouch assumed that he had confirmed at least a portion of his answer with Kallen. It was her radio after all. "Thank you for being honest with your answer. Though did you happen to see a canister inside the remains of the truck?" The man was fishing for information about the 'poison gas'.

Lelouch looked at the woman in his lap amusedly before he responded. "Yes, I did see a canister inside the truck. It was open, but nothing too important seemed to be inside of it." That was definitely stretching the truth and he had to resist the urge to laugh at the pout on C.C.'s face before she smacked his shoulder. She gave her contractor a look that clearly said that he'd pay for that later, but Lelouch refocused his attention back onto the leader. "Now, if you'll tell me the answer to my offer? Time is of the essence." He needed to make sure his allies were focused on the present.

He couldn't have them dwelling in the past right now. There would be plenty of time for them to mourn once they won the day.

"Understood. Please, lead us well – Uh, what should we call you?" The now former leader asked Lelouch before he realized he hadn't gotten his new leader's name.

Lelouch smirked as he decided on what he could have them call him. It would be his call sign for when they were in combat so it would need to denote authority and respect.

"You may call me K-1 for now." He would come up with a better alias later and he was going to be using chess notations to refer to his allies for now anyway so it was appropriate.

He then turned his attention to Kallen, "Woman in the Glasgow." He spoke to Kallen on her frequency, making sure to not use her name. It would give away the fact that he had been on the truck well before they arrived in Shinjuku. Besides her name seemed familiar to him for some strange reason, but he just couldn't place it.

"Ye-Yes?" The red-haired pilot spoke uncertainly.

"Stay where you are. Your units going to run decoy, do you understand?" He couldn't afford to sound too callous or they wouldn't be willing to obey him. He needed to give them an illusion of having a choice so they would feel like their new commander wasn't disregarding their feelings.

"U-Understood." She spoke slightly more confidently this time.

"What's your Energy Filler status?" He asked. The last thing he needed was her Frame failing on her right now, especially since it was already missing an arm leaving it at a disadvantage. Still, he had some faith in her skill as a pilot.

"Only five minutes worth." The woman said clearly.

Lelouch frowned as he realized he'd helped her out just in time. Had he been any later she would have most likely been captured or killed. "Then recharge it. In ten minutes, I'll contact everyone with their call signs and their new orders."

He then placed the communicator down in front of his Sutherland's monitor sighing, and turned to C.C. and gave her a searching look. "So, have I done satisfactory in your opinion, my accomplice?" Lelouch asked curiously.

He wondered if the strange woman had any experience as a commanding officer and if she could tell what he was doing by using terms like we, us, and our when referring to his allies.

The witch had a contemplative look on her face as she thought about her response. "I suppose it wasn't too bad for your first time, but you'll need to do better in the future." She spoke calmly.

Lelouch gave a tiny lopsided smile and replied, "Well, I'll do my best to live up to your high standards next time then. Of course, things will begin again in just ten minutes so you better be prepared." He warned her. He'd be moving his Sutherland a lot more than he already did soon and he needed to make sure she'd hold onto him tightly.

She seemed like she'd be an enjoyable person to hold conversations with when their lives weren't in danger and Lelouch hoped that the woman could be trustworthy. He was starting to enjoy her strange personality.

The green haired immortal raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh my, so soon? My, my you _do_ work fast don't you? Are you sure you can satisfy me this time then?" She spoke cheekily.

"I guarantee you'll be satisfied this time, my immortal witch." Lelouch spoke before he ran the previous conversation through his head quickly.

He almost smacked his face at how perverted the previous conversation would sound without the context. "God, that sounded so much less suggestive in my head." Lelouch spoke as he noticed the immortal in his lap chuckling quietly once he realized what she'd done.

"Sneaky witch." He spoke with false irritation. Yes she definitely would be an interesting conversation partner in the future if she proved trustworthy. However, before he could retaliate against the woman in his arms he realized that his ten minutes were almost up.

He picked up the radio and began focusing on the enemy's movements on his Sutherland's monitor.

"It looks like we'll have to continue our conversation later. Right now, I have a battle to win." He spoke confidently.

"Of course." The green haired witch spoke with a chuckle before calming herself down.

He spoke to his allies over the communicator and began giving out everyone's call signs.

Once he finished giving Kallen, now known as Q-1 since she was the most skilled and independent 'piece' on his 'board', her orders and she left in her Glasgow, he spoke to the former leader of his allies, now known as B-1, since he had managed to lead the group rather well despite clearly not being suited to leadership on a battlefield, "B-1, can you move? It operates basically the same as you're used to."

B-1 responded, "Yes K-1, I can move. What are your orders?"

Lelouch smirked. "Good, then if Q-1 is on schedule enemy Sutherlands, probably two of them, will be reaching you in twenty three seconds." Lelouch then spoke the next part of his order so that his new soldiers could activate his trap. "Shoot them through the wall."

Lelouch smirked as he beheld two LOST signals appear on his Sutherland's monitor after twenty three seconds had passed. They followed his commands perfectly.

He then began issuing more orders to his allies. "B-1, P-4, P-7, move one hundred meters to the right and fire your Slash Harkens at Three O'Clock."

"P-5, are you ready?" He had the feeling that P-5 was someone he'd need to watch out for. He didn't seem very competent to Lelouch since he'd been questioning every single order he gave.

"Quit calling me that!" The man complained.

He smirked as he eavesdropped on the commands being issued by the commanders of the Britannian military; changing the codes accordingly once they realized that they were being intercepted. He began tailoring his orders to take advantage of his knowledge and to his satisfaction his allies all followed his commands without hesitation. Eventually, Clovis would be forced to take command and if the Prince was as incompetent as Lelouch remembered the older man would fall into all of his traps.

"This failure is unacceptable!" Lelouch heard Clovis shout over his Sutherland's communicator. "Send out the Irregulars!" Lelouch frowned in confusion. "Who are the Irregulars?" Lelouch murmured in confusion.

He was surprised when he heard C.C. growl in anger. That was the first time he'd seen her react in anger. Though it was her response that surprised him the most.

He listened to her whisper her knowledge to him while keeping his attention on ordering his forces to continue to decimate the military.

"Abominations that the bastard Prince created using data he gained from studying me." She growled softly. "They each have an artificial Geass that is unique to them, but they can't survive for an extended period of time without a certain chemical composition that only Britannia produces, essentially making them Britannia's slaves."

Lelouch frowned as he processed the new information continuing to command his forces before he turned to the witch. "Do you know anything more about them that could help me?" He asked his accomplice as he continued to order his forces throughout the battlefield.

If she was being forthcoming with information about them she must have believed that he needed to know this information and he agreed. He wouldn't have been prepared for _artificial_ Geass users if C.C. hadn't told him that they existed.

He had already suspected other Geass users of existing, but he hadn't known that it was possible to artificially produce a Geass. Whatever the process entailed, it was clearly the reason C.C. had called the Irregulars 'abominations'.

C.C. replied to his question softly, "All I know is that the three that I'm aware of are female and two of them aren't even adults yet." Lelouch's frown intensified when he heard this information.

He growled as he saw three signals appear on his Sutherland's screen before stopping in confusion when he noticed a fourth signal intercept them almost immediately after they began to enter the district he was in.

He watched in shock as the single Knightmare Frame completely defeated the three Irregular units before vanishing almost as quickly as it appeared. He listened in on the military's communications to try and find out what happened, but it seemed they were just as confused as him and C.C. They quickly reacted despite the surprising defeat and began encircling his allies, depleting the guards surrounding Clovis' Command Center.

"Hm, it seems Clovis has gotten desperate. Clearly having the Irregulars defeated so quickly by an unknown Knightmare Frame has unnerved him." Lelouch smirked as a plan to eliminate all of the enemies in one shot entered his mind. "He has just made a grave mistake." Lelouch grinned as he gave his allies new orders in order to properly set up the greatest trap of the battle yet.

"Q-1, do you have an area map of the Shinjuku Ghetto?" Lelouch asked his Queen.

"Yes I have a map of the old city, but it has no current landmarks." She responded tensely.

Lelouch smirked. "That's just fine, it'll do. Have all of the civilians in the area been evacuated?" With a confirmation that there were no civilians in the vicinity of his trap, Lelouch then proceeded to outline his plan to Kallen and his other allies. He couldn't have them get caught in his trap after all. They'd be useless to him dead.

He waited until his trap would eliminate the maximum number of targets before he gave his order to spring the trap. "Now Clovis, with this trap, I call Check." He then spoke into his communicator. "Now Q-1, B-1, P-5, destroy the support pillars of the surrounding streets and crush the enemy forces!"

Lelouch allowed a mad grin to spread across his face as he witnessed every single enemy Knightmare Frame signal be replaced with the word LOST as the devastation caused by his trap spread to engulf the entirety of the enemy Prince's forces, heedless of C.C. who had her own malicious grin spread across her face at Clovis' humiliating defeat.

'_Perfect._' Lelouch thought to himself. '_They followed my commands flawlessly and Clovis has nothing left to deploy. The only Knightmares still able to be used are mine and the pathetic amount that Clovis still has surrounding his Command Center. Nearly all of my tasks have been accomplished, all that's left is to find Clovis and end this battle._' Just as he was about to maneuver his Knightmare to leave its position so he could sneak onto the Command Center, he overheard a conversation Clovis was having with someone on a different frequency than the rest of the military.

He frowned as he realized that he was unable to hear the other man speak properly, but he could clearly hear Clovis ask if his 'toy' would be able to defeat his forces. '_Seems I spoke too soon._' Lelouch realized. "So Clovis, you still have one piece left to play do you? Well then, let's see it my dear brother." He realized his slip up and looked down to see C.C.'s reaction only for his own eyes to widen.

She was merely giving him an amused look and said, "What, did you think I was unaware of your nature as an officially dead Prince, Lelouch?" He belatedly realized that was the first time she spoke his name as she continued. "When we made our contract, I saw _everything_ there was to see inside your mind." His eyes widened even more in his shock. That meant she was aware of his memory concerning– "I know that you are aware of a man with a similar name to mine and I can assure you right now that I haven't been in contact with V.V. in years and even if I had been, he is no ally of mine."

Lelouch was stunned into silence before he regained his composure. "I see." He said simply. What else could he say? This woman in his lap, the immortal witch who had saved his life, now knew him better than anyone on the planet other than Nunnally, even being aware of his clear mental instability that made him prone to occasional bouts of madness in certain circumstances, and she still stayed by him willingly. "Then you are clearly aware that I'm not entirely sane. So why have you stayed with me after you gave me my Geass?" He asked cautiously. He knew he wasn't normal, it was simple for him to acknowledge because denying it would just make things more difficult for himself in the long run.

The witch gave him a small smirk that was tinged with something Lelouch was unable to recognize. "I told you didn't I?" She leaned up slightly and spoke softly, "We are accomplices, Lelouch." He shuddered lightly as she leaned up and whispered his name into his ear.

She then leaned back and looked him directly into his eyes and said, "Besides, you are hardly the first person I've made a contract with that wasn't entirely sane. You are remarkably well-adjusted compared to them and many other people Lelouch so don't sell your mental fortitude short. Your mind is very strong. Especially for someone your age."

It was true, most people would have been unable to perceive anything other than her words when she made a contract with them, but Lelouch had managed at the very least glimpse every single image that was projected when she offered to make a contract. His mind was incredibly strong and she couldn't wait to see how he used his brilliant mind to accomplish his goals.

Lelouch merely nodded at the immortal witch before returning his attention to the battle. He needed to pay attention if he was going to properly counter Clovis' newest piece. He could speak with C.C. later when they made it back to Ashford Academy. At the moment, he needed to focus on ending the battle and eliminating Clovis.

Soon enough, his forces started to report something strange going on. The newest piece on the board had arrived and it was already making some serious trouble for his allies if the jumbled reports were to be believed.

He breathed in shock as the latest report from his allies came in. "It can reflect bullets?" Lelouch quickly thought about his options. '_This is bad. If I don't do something quickly my forces are going to be slaughtered. But if it can reflect bullets, and it's a new model, no range would be able to affect it unless the terrain was used against it, but it moves too fast and irregularly for me to plot a proper course in order to set up a trap._' Lelouch hmphed in mild amusement as he realized that, had this been actual chess, this new piece would most definitely be a Knight. There was no way his current forces could properly deal with this new threat.

He may need to try and use the Zero Armor. He may not have been able to learn about the D.O.M Hostia system, but he had enough information to know that it could do something against Knightmare Frames. The system was his only chance to defeat this thing and still have his forces somewhat intact.

He quickly gave the order for his forces to retreat. "Everyone, fall back! This thing is too much for you to handle right now so fall back!" There was no shame in retreating if it meant survival in order to face your enemy on better terms. Only fools would try and force a victory against a superior foe without a proper plan.

Suddenly, he noticed that the Frame was coming at him at a ridiculous speed. He quickly forced his Sutherland to go full throttle as he tried to back away from the newest threat, but it had fired something similar to Slash Harkens at him, but were definitely more powerful at him in an effort to cut off his escape.

It raised its fist and launched a powerful punch that Lelouch barely managed to raise his Sutherland's own arms up in time to block. '_Holy shit! This thing is fast!_' Lelouch thought in surprise. If he let go of the controls holding his Sutherland's arms up to reach for the eject switch, his cockpit would be smashed and although he wasn't alone, his position had ended up forcing C.C.'s arms against her own body, making her unable to reach the ejection mechanism either.

'_Damn, how am I going to get out of this one?_' Lelouch tried to stay calm as he thought this through. He couldn't afford to lose his cool here. He needed to _think_.

The floor ended up giving out underneath their Knightmare's weight, but it didn't manage to change their positions in any advantageous way for either pilot.

Lelouch grimaced as he realized that this once again fell into the category of physical activity and his arms began to burn with exhaustion as his mind continued to race through multiple scenarios, creating, fusing, and discarding plans faster than any normal mind would be able to follow.

Luckily for Lelouch, Kallen hadn't followed his order completely, having noticed the new unit charging toward a higher-level position that made her remember that their new leader had aided her from a similar vantage point earlier. She used her own Slash Harkens to quickly scale the building and she used her Knightmare to _tackle_ the new unit away.

"Hey, I'm returning the favor. Now get out of here!" Kallen shouted over her speakers before the new Knightmare returned and quickly forced her to eject. But not before Lelouch managed to put a significant amount of distance between the two units allowing him some breathing room.

'_I must remember that in the future. The difference between chess pieces and humans is the human 'will'. While ordinarily a piece may only move in a certain way, sometimes a human is simply unable to perform a certain action despite it being normally possible. Conversely however, the human 'will' allows a 'piece' to perform above and beyond its normal limitations._' Lelouch sighed as he continued to think as he pushed his Knightmare to its fastest speed.

'_I see now, battle is far more than a mere chess match with luck and skill as the players._' Lelouch realized. '_The human 'will' is a whole new rule that I must learn to exploit to the fullest without completely taking it over. If I take it over completely it will ruin its effectiveness._'

Lelouch thought sardonically, '_I suppose it is here that my Geass becomes my weakness since it will be all too tempting to simply enslave those under me so they obey me without question. I must be wary and make sure that I don't abuse this power, but most of all, I can't afford to let anyone under my command know about it or they will begin to doubt themselves and me._' Lelouch growled at that thought. '_I can't afford that._'

Once he realized the white Frame from before speeding up behind him, Lelouch spun around and kept his Sutherland going at its fastest speed while he fired his assault weapon at the white Knightmare rapidly.

What he hadn't foreseen however had been the fact that the speed he was going at and the kickback caused by the rapid firing of his weapon had ended up causing Lelouch to miss most of his shots. He ended up accidentally firing upwards towards the walls of the tall buildings that were once a part of the bustling city of Shinjuku seven years ago, causing large chunks of rubble to fall toward the white Knightmare.

Lelouch looked on in shock as the Knightmare performed maneuvers that shouldn't have been possible, yet it pulled them off flawlessly allowing it to dodge all the accidentally discharged rubble. "What the hell is that thing?" Lelouch wondered in shock.

Whatever it was, he wanted one of them damn it! He had never seen a Knightmare capable of pulling off maneuvers with the same flexibility as a human before, and the pilot was obviously someone who was either ridiculously naturally talented, or someone with enough sheer dumb luck to be shot point blank by a bullet and not die. '_Well, as long as they aren't like C.C. at least._' He mentally amended his previous observation.

He suddenly heard a scream and turned his Knightmares Factsphere to look above. '_Shit!_' He thought all the civilians had been evacuated!

He couldn't turn around or he'd be caught. '_I'm sorry._' Lelouch thought to the falling woman. He couldn't afford to be apprehended now. If he had the capability, he would have saved that woman, but he didn't and so he couldn't.

His eyes widened as the white Knightmare stopped its pursuit of him to save the falling woman and sighed in relief. '_Good, at least the pilot has a heart. I'd hate to think of a heartless bastard piloting such a powerful Knightmare._' He shuddered at the thought before he turned to face C.C. who had remained eerily calm in his lap ever since their previous conversation.

He supposed she just didn't want to distract him. After all, being unable to die didn't mean fatal wounds didn't hurt, at least he logically assumed they didn't. He didn't know much about an immortal's biology after all. "I'm going to eject and overload the Yggdrasil drive on this Knightmare. I can't take the chance of anyone finding about anything that happened in this Frame's presence. Hold on to me tightly." He said calmly before he started overloading the Knightmare and pulled the ejection lever.

He watched the Knightmare burst into a pink explosion as he flew away in his ejection pod. He absentmindedly wondered if his slave Villetta had managed to survive the battle. It would be irritating if all the effort he went into turning that woman into the perfect slave and sleeper agent was for nothing.

He quickly opened the hatch before he noticed a Britannian soldier running toward him. Luckily he seemed to be alone, but Lelouch wasn't going to take any chances. Once the soldier stopped in front of him, he pointed his assault rifle at them after he realized that Lelouch and C.C. weren't dressed in the Britannian military uniform.

Lelouch activated his Geass as his accomplice stood behind him and to his right. "**You will hand your uniform and any weapons you have on you over to me and then you will obey my every command.**"

The soldier's stance went slack and he replied simply, "Yes sir."

He then began removing everything Lelouch had told him to while Lelouch turned to C.C. and spoke. "I'm going to go confront Clovis, would you like me to use my Geass to get you your own uniform?" Lelouch offered. He wasn't sure what she would choose to do, but he would do his best to help her for now. After what they had gone through he felt she deserved at least some of his trust.

C.C. merely shook her head. "No, I will remain in this for now." She gestured to her straightjacket. "After all, until the military is no longer looking for me, I am still a prisoner." She said solemnly.

Lelouch simply nodded as he picked up the uniform of the soldier and began removing his clothing for the second time in the Ghetto in order to get into disguise. After he quickly changed, he placed his armor and helmet back into the briefcase over his Ashford Academy uniform. He picked up the helmet from a corpse of a nearby soldier to cover his head and pulled out the gun that the soldier had given him.

"Thank you for your assistance, but now you are no longer needed." He then pulled the trigger and put a bullet between the eyes of the unfortunate man and then placed the sidearm in its holster on his right thigh.

"Was that really necessary?" C.C. asked. "You could have just turned him into your slave like that Villetta woman. So why didn't you?"

Lelouch frowned at C.C.'s question. "Yes, it was necessary. After seeing that woman fall before she was saved by that pilot I realized that there might still be civilians in the area. Now that I know that, I need to end this battle quickly before any of them get killed."

He then looked at C.C. out of the corner of his eye. "And besides, I hadn't originally intended to do that to her, but I needed to test just how strong my new power is. When I commanded the soldiers, I merely gave two commands that ended up killing them in less than five minutes. I needed to perform a more detailed test and Villetta just so happened to be the unlucky target." Lelouch explained as the two of them walked towards Clovis' Command Center.

"I needed to test the extremes to see if there were any limit to the type of commands I can give and now I know that I can completely break anyone's free will with the right orders, it disgusts me." Lelouch spoke contemptuously.

"The most valuable thing humans have is our free will, and to completely destroy that as thoroughly as I did to Villetta is a terrible thing. That's why I gave her the command to act as she normally would when not under my control. To give her the illusion of still being a free human being. It may have been kinder to just kill her, but she is my enemy and I have no obligation to be kind to her so I instead turned her into the perfect sleeper agent that will be completely unaware of her services and allegiance to me." Lelouch finished his explanation as he saw Clovis' Command Center come into view.

Since he was still disguised as a soldier he simply walked up through the entrance, it not even being guarded due to Clovis sending out every available infantry soldier to hunt down the terrorists. C.C. followed him with the same confidence. The two accomplices quickly found a circuit breaker and Lelouch used it to temporarily shut off the power.

"Now, we need to move quickly. Clovis won't allow the power to be off for long." Lelouch said as he started jogging toward where he knew the room where Clovis would be. His ego wouldn't allow him to do anything less than witness the complete annihilation of the terrorists who had humiliated him so thoroughly.

Once the two of them found the door to the command room, the power turned back on and the door opened. Lelouch noticed a switch next to the door and pulled it, plunging the rest of the room into darkness.

Once everyone's attention was drawn to the male figure standing at the door, Lelouch activated his Geass. "**Leave the Command Center. You will have no memory since the power went out. You will recall nothing of our appearances, my orders, or even our presences here today.**" Lelouch ordered.

Luckily for him, the only one not facing him at the moment he used his Geass was Clovis, so everyone else left the room completely disregarding Clovis' commands.

C.C. stayed in the shadows for the moment, not wanting to let Clovis know that she was free.

Lelouch walked to the bottom of the stairs before the throne platform and pointed his pistol at Clovis. "Now then, you are going to order an immediate ceasefire or I will blast out one of your knees. Then I will ask you to do so again, and should you refuse I will shoot your other one. Then next I will target your elbows, then your feet, your wrists, your hands, your shoulders, and then I will start targeting your individual fingers and toes." Lelouch smirked as he saw Clovis shaking in fear.

"It's your choice, Clovis. Will you choose the needlessly painful choice or will you order that ceasefire now?" Lelouch asked darkly as he began lowering his pistol to target the Prince's right knee.

The Prince desperately reached for the button on his throne and activated the speakers of his Command Center. "Attention all forces, ceasefire at once! I Clovis, Third Prince of Britannia and Royal Viceroy of Area Eleven, hereby command you, all forces are ordered to ceasefire at once!" Clovis ordered.

To Lelouch's surprise, the Third Prince continued with his commands, "You will also cease destruction of any buildings or property! All casualties, whether Britannians or Elevens, shall be treated equally and without prejudice! In the name of Clovis la Britannia, you are hereby ordered, ceasefire at once! I shall allow no further fighting!" Once the Prince was finished with his orders, the speakers were shut off.

Clovis then turned towards the disguised Lelouch, eyes turning to the briefcase he'd carried in with him, then to his compatriot who remained in the shadows for now, before returning to the man before him. "Are you satisfied?" He asked with a growl.

Lelouch replied coolly. "Very, although you surprised me with your _mercy_ Viceroy. Could it be you were trying to appease me by giving those extra orders?" Lelouch chuckled as Clovis remained silent.

Clovis placed his elbow on his throne and leaned his cheek on his knuckles. "So what shall we do now? Sing a few lively ballads, or perhaps a nice game of chess?" He spoke calmly as the man dressed as a Britannian soldier walked slowly into the lighter area surrounding his throne.

"Oh, but don't you see?" Lelouch spoke amusedly. "We just got through a game, and I won. As I always have." Lelouch spoke his final sentence as he took his helmet off and tossed it aside, revealing his face to Clovis. "After all, you never did manage to beat me when we played at the Aries Villa when we were children did you, my dear big brother? Eldest son to the late Fifth Empress and consort Marianne, Eleventh Prince of Britannia, and Seventeenth in line for the Imperial Throne, Lelouch vi Britannia, at your service." Lelouch concluded mockingly as he knelt in the custom Britannian salute.

Clovis' leaned forward as his eyes widened in shock. "Lelouch, you're alive!" Clovis spoke with happiness. "I can't believe it; everyone thought you were dead after the invasion of Area Eleven seven years ago. Euphie's going to be so happy–"

Lelouch interjected before Clovis could continue with his speech. "No, she isn't. Because she is never going to find out about this."

Clovis leaned back into his throne in confusion. "What do you mean?" Clovis asked in confusion. "We all thought–"

"That I was dead?" Lelouch interrupted again. "You were wrong and I have returned to change _everything_." Lelouch said darkly.

"W-What do you mean?" Clovis stammered.

Lelouch ignored the Prince and activated his Geass. He smiled menacingly as he felt the now familiar burn that signaled its readiness to be used. "The truth can no longer be hidden from me. **Now, tell me everything you know regarding my mother's murder.**"

"Of course." The Prince obeyed placidly. "For some reason unknown to me, Cornelia called off Marianne's guards that night. I know not why, but perhaps she could give more detail. Prince Schneizel handled Marianne's burial after your exile so he may also have some knowledge about that night. The two of them started an investigation, with my assistance, before we were stonewalled by Father. He shut down the investigation and destroyed all the evidence we gathered once he found out. I stopped after that, not willing to do anything further on the subject that angered Father so, but I suspect that both Cornelia and Schneizel continued their investigation in secret."

Lelouch continued to process the information as he maintained eye contact and asked the Prince a question. "**Where do you keep all the information you gained on C.C.?**"

He motioned with his hand for C.C. to not react for the moment until she could see his reasoning for asking such a question.

Clovis responded in the same placid tone he used to describe his knowledge regarding Marianne's death. "I keep it all in a briefcase in a safe behind my throne here on the G-1, the password is my birthday, your birthday, and Nunnally's birthday, in that order and I always make sure to keep all the information I gained on her on the single flash drive contained within the case. I always send all the data I have on my personal computer regarding Code-R to that flash drive before erasing all files contained on my computer to prevent any hackers from getting the true information on her. I placed decoy information that would lead any hackers to believe that it was about poison gas."

"**Are there any other copies of the information contained on that flash drive?**" Lelouch asked. If there were, he'd need to destroy them.

"No, not even the hidden lab at Narita has the information on Code-R because I ordered them to send any research data they collected to me whenever they moved the subject between laboratories and to erase any information concerning Code-R from the mainframes after sending the information to my personal computer. Since they were planning to move the subject today, no other copies of the information on Code-R exist." Clovis once again answered in the same placid tone that he had under the control of his Geass.

Lelouch blinked after his eyes started burning in a way that had nothing to do with his Geass. After he broke eye-contact Clovis' face returned to the confused expression it held before Lelouch had placed him under his control.

"Lelouch, what do you mean?" Clovis asked once he was free from being unknowingly controlled by Lelouch's power.

Lelouch had one more question that he needed answered though. Hearing how much Clovis had cared for him and Nunnally, enough to include their birthdays as a password to a safe that was required to be unbreakable, had shaken his resolve slightly. However, he knew that Clovis wouldn't need to be under the compulsion of his Geass to answer this question honestly. "Tell me, dear brother, why did you order the massacre of the entire Shinjuku Ghetto?"

Depending on how he answered, Lelouch may have ended up allowing Clovis to live despite him giving up when it came to investigating his mother's murder.

He had always been the softest of the three brothers. Lelouch, Clovis, and Schneizel had been very close when Lelouch was a child despite their age differences and Lelouch wanted desperately to believe that the kind older brother that loved to paint Nunnally and Euphie in the beautiful garden of the Aries Villa was still in there somewhere, disgusted by what he had done this day.

"What does it matter to you Lelouch?" Clovis asked confusedly and unknowingly shattering Lelouch's hopes for allowing his brother's survival. "They were just Elevens."

Lelouch trembled, with both sorrow and rage. Sorrow because that kind older brother was clearly dead and gone, and rage because his once kind older brother dared to indirectly call Suzaku 'just an Eleven' as though his life weren't worth anything when it was worth more to Lelouch than well over half of the Imperial Family's lives. His eyes burned with tears, of which emotion he couldn't discern, but all he knew was that he had to end this.

He raised his pistol and put it close to Clovis' forehead. The least he could do was make it painless and quick.

"W-What are you doing Lelouch?!" Clovis screamed in fear. "You and I may not share mothers but we are still brothers!"

Lelouch spoke with a voice barely holding back the raging emotions he was feeling. "No, we are no longer brothers. The brother I remember is clearly dead and gone."

Lelouch then gave a slightly insane smile. "Besides, you can't change the world without getting your hands dirty!" He shouted in an unhinged voice and pulled the trigger.

And thus, with the sobbing of rage and sorrow by his once beloved little brother, the life of the Third Prince of Britannia, Clovis la Britannia, was ended.

And on the day September 11, 2017 a.t.b; a Black Devil was born.

* * *

**Author's Note: Sorry that this chapter was so long, but in addition to merging the first two episodes of the anime from Lelouch's Point of View, I also had to go into detail on the changes that I've made to the storyline for my story when it was appropriate or convenient. Anyway, I hope that this chapter was an enjoyable read.**

**I also want to say something to all my readers. I would like it, if I make an obvious grammar mistake, to have it pointed out if any of you notice it or them. I can't stand making grammar mistakes, personally I blame all my English teachers for being stiffs with almost no sense of humor, and I will make sure to correct any mistakes that are noticed.**

**Also, one of my personal favorite tropes is Exact Words, so I would like it if you all paid close attention to the terminology I have Lelouch use. It should give valuable hints to the differences between his mental state in this story and the canonical Lelouch.**

**As you can tell, this Lelouch is just as much a genius as the canonical one, but he is more understanding when it comes to other people and human emotions than he is in canon because he has more control over his own arrogance in this story. This self-control, as well as slightly unstable mental state, is what makes my Lelouch unique I believe because I have yet to see a story where Lelouch is self-aware of his own distorted mental state from the beginning while maintaining a surprisingly good amount of self-control despite it.**

**One last thing, I was thinking about writing this same chapter, only from Nunnally's point of view in the next chapter with some obviously different events happening at the time of Lelouch's, barring the Shinjuku one for obvious reasons. My partial crossover with Nightmare of Nunnally makes her a possible main character after all. It will be shorter than this one since I need to have less of an exposition, but I was wondering something. I have two options I could take right now. One of them would be having a chapter from Nunnally's point of view after Lelouch's if it's relevant to my story, and another would have the chapters from Nunnally's point of view written after I finish the writing 'the first season' so to speak. Which would you like my readers? Would you rather have a Nunnally chapter after a Lelouch one if it's relevant? Or would you rather have the Nunnally chapters come after I've finished around the time of the Black Rebellion? Keep in mind though, that I will still make the final decision so the most popular choice may not be picked by me if I decided to do one over the other. Still, it can't hurt to make your opinions known.**

**Now,**

**Lelouch vi Britannia commands you, REVIEW!**

**Draconias Over and Out.**


	3. Chapter 2: The Rise of the White Witch

"I hereby renounce my claim to the throne!" – Regular speaking

'_How dare the Emperor abandon Nunnally!_' – Regular thinking; Italics not in singular quotations are used for emphasis

"Q-1, strike the left flank now!" – Speaking as heard over radios and other communication devices

"**Lelouch vi Britannia commands you, DIE!**" Speech influenced by using Geass

**Review Replies**

**lioncousin** – I'm glad you enjoyed the new chapter. My chapters will not usually be that long since I just needed to give a small exposition about the changes I've made so far. I hope that you continue to enjoy my story.

**The Unknown ShiniGami** – Yep, once I saw the tower smoking in the first episode when I rewatched it in order to make sure I didn't make any mistakes with my last chapter I noticed the similarities between the two events. Besides, I thought it was appropriately ironic considering Code Geass is a show about terrorism. However, I hope you didn't think I meant to use the date to mock 9/11 because that is something I would never intentionally do.

**phantomace13** – You're in luck since that was what I decided to do and don't worry. Most of my chapters won't be over thirty thousand words, but I just couldn't leave Shinjuku until Clovis was dead and I needed to give small expositions to properly explain some of the differences I made so far. I won't ask you to go back and read it, but, since I don't know what lines you skipped, you may have missed something that could be important to my plot. I would recommend you reread it, but it's your decision.

I'm a bit confused. Who are you referring to in the last bit of your review? Anyway, I hope that you continue to enjoy my story.

**Magus** – I suppose that labeling you did was fine too. As long as I can properly differentiate my reviewers properly, I don't mind. I realize that it was a similar remake of canon events, but I can't simply jump right into the changes without leading into them and the canonical events can give a nice basis that can make that transition from canon to fanon easier.

Also, in one of my review replies in my last chapter, I mentioned that Lelouch's Geass also works with his intention behind it or some of his more open ended orders could have really backfired on him earlier on. And, again I refer you to the Exact Words part of my author's note, technically speaking how Lelouch turned Villetta into his slave (which by the way he personally found deplorable as you can see from his conversation with C.C. on the way to the G-1), was that he gave an order and then asked the question "Do you acknowledge this as the truth?" and since his intent was to see if his Geass could completely subvert someone's free will, she responded in the way that he desired since she was still under the compulsion to "Answer his questions". There was no other answer that she could give that would match Lelouch's intention behind that part of his Geass order and so she ended up submitting.

I figured that someone would be confused if they thought that he could simply give countless orders as long as he maintained eye-contact (which I would personally find overpowered), but Lelouch's intent combined with his open ended wording of his command and his adding a question into the command of her 'having been his slave since the day he was born' ended up fulfilling the requirements necessary for Villetta to fall under his control. Villetta would simply obey the rest of the orders that Lelouch gave her afterward because she had become his slave.

After acknowledging him as her Master, Lelouch ran damage control to make sure he could make the most out of completely subsuming Villetta's free will. It's why he added so many clauses to the end of his order as well as a command phrase and a release phrase. He couldn't afford to take any chances that he would be unable to set her free with a release phrase (again because Lelouch greatly values the free will of humans as he is right now), but since she was his enemy he felt no moral obligation to just let her go after he finished with his test to see if his Geass could make his subjects believe his lies were an absolute truth. He made the most out of a potentially hazardous situation and ended up gaining the perfect sleeper agent. Besides, the time he spent in that lab is roughly ten minutes despite the word count I have in that scene.

However, Lelouch is unaware that he can't give countless different orders while maintaining eye-contact just yet though. He has to word his order in a certain way if he wants to have his target do something that they wouldn't normally do under his Geass' influence if the Geass command doesn't cover that kind of action. Like I said, I'm going to be playing with the trope Exact Words _a lot_ in this story.

In Nightmare of Nunnally, Geass is a lot different and the Zero Armor in the manga _is_ Lelouch's Geass. Their names are different than in the anime, they are always called The (Insert Appropriately Dramatic/Punny Name Here) and Lelouch's is, of course, called The Zero.

And nope, it wasn't the Lancelot that totaled the Irregulars. It was the Mark Nemo as you will see in this chapter.

I will eventually get into their relationship, but Nunnally isn't really _in_ the first or second episode so I couldn't do much to fit her in other than the phone call which I partially ripped off from the manga and that one scene where Lelouch's last thought before the Royal Guard are about to kill him is of his beloved little sister. Best scene in the first episode in my opinion. Lelouch ordering the guards to die with his real name though really makes it a close choice, but I think it was just extremely heartwarming.

I hope I answered your inquiries with enough detail, and I hope you enjoy my newest chapter.

**kenshin620** – Huh, I hadn't thought of Lelouch as Batman when I came up with the premise, but I can see where you would get that.

Also, Villetta was his enemy and she irritated him with her racism and her subservience to the nobility. He just took advantage of the situation as it presented itself and reacted accordingly. Besides, he would only be attracted to a person because of their personality, not just their looks. If he was that easily entranced by looks, he would have already gotten a harem from his many fangirls in Ashford.

Here is Nunnally's chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

**BiColour Raptor** – Here is the next chapter, enjoy!

**Ie-maru**– Rejoice, for here is your update.

**Disclaimer: I don't own any franchise that is used in this story nor do I make any profit from it whatsoever.**

I hope you all enjoy the new chapter. By the way, I made my decision and I have chosen to write the previous chapter's day in Nunnally's point of view. Don't worry; the chapter is definitely relevant to my plot.

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Rise of the White Witch**

* * *

(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Academy Courtyard – 11:35 am – September 11 – 2017 a.t.b)

Nunnally sighed quietly as she enjoyed the relaxing sounds of the courtyard where students were allowed to have lunch when the weather permitted it. "Doesn't the breeze feel nice today Alice?" Nunnally turned head to face her friend who was pushing her wheelchair through the courtyard. Even if she couldn't see them, she preferred to try and face people when she spoke with them. It made her feel more comfortable.

"Yeah, it's really relaxing." Alice's voice sounded from behind her. "Hey, I think I see some of the Student Council. Wanna go over and hang out?" Her friend asked.

Nunnally hummed lightly as she thought it over. She didn't get to spend too much time with the Student Council since she was in the middle school level of Ashford Academy so, "Yeah, definitely!" Nunnally spoke excitedly.

She may not have been able to do much, but she enjoyed being around her friends. Just hearing their voices made her situation feel not as bad as it was, of course that didn't mean she felt okay with her disabilities.

When she had promised to never lie to Lelouch after their mother's death she hadn't realized how hard a promise like that was to keep. For Lelouch to manage to keep it so well without seemingly any problems made Nunnally want to be the best sister she could be for him.

So, after they had been exiled to Japan, she did her best to never let him see her discomfort. She tried to constantly put on a happy façade, to keep Lelouch from realizing just how much losing her legs and sight hurt her, but of course, like the loving older brother he was, he noticed almost as soon as she started to try and put on a happy mask and asked her what was wrong and what he could do to he could do to help.

She had briefly thought about saying it was nothing before feeling guilty almost as soon as she thought it. Lelouch had been trying so hard to not lie to her and the first time she was asked a difficult question she wanted to back out of their promise. She had started crying then and her Lelou held her just like that night in the hospital as she poured out all her feelings of sadness and resentment towards all the things she couldn't ever do anymore.

She had wanted to run around the Aries Villa with Euphie and chase Lelouch until he collapsed and they tackled him. Tickling him mercilessly as he gasped for air.

She wanted to play with their mother and Cornelia.

But most of all, she wanted to be able to _see_ him again.

Of course, Lelouch was unable to do anything more than comfort her, but just being able to express her negative emotions toward someone who she knew would never judge her for them was enough for her. And in turn she would never judge her Onii-sama for his own emotional problems.

Their openness with each other was one of the only things keeping them stable. They were pretty much each other's entire world after their mother died. Before they made friends in the forms of Suzaku and Kaguya after their exile, they had been each other's only reason for living.

Euphie had been unable to visit because her mother had been absolutely paranoid after news of Lelouch and Nunnally's exile had gotten around to her and she'd forbidden Euphie from going anywhere near the vi Britannia siblings with the irrational fear that her daughters would be banished too.

Lelouch hadn't seen Anya since the day he'd confronted the Emperor and she hadn't gone to visit Nunnally either.

Schneizel and Clovis were far too busy to properly visit them.

Cornelia had thrown herself into her military training after Lelouch's dismissal of her and Lelouch had been unable to find her before she left so he could apologize for his actions.

They'd had no one but each other left after that and they'd only grown closer because of it.

The Princess in hiding was drawn back to the present once she heard Milly's voice teasing someone, most likely Shirley.

When she felt Alice push her close enough to the conversation she heard Shirley complain about Milly teasing her about her crush on Lelouch. She decided to join in and poke some fun at the girl. "Now, Milly," Nunnally spoke clearly once she heard her and Alice get close enough that she could speak without shouting, "don't tease Shirley too much."

"Thank you N–" Shirley started.

Nunnally interrupted the girl who her brother said had burnt orange hair and finished her statement. "After all, she's hardly the only one to have a crush on Lelouch. It's just unfair for you to tease her so much about my Big Brother when it'd be so much easier to find a girl at Ashford who doesn't have a crush on him." She finished with a devious smile that, had Lelouch seen it, would have reminded him uncomfortably of the times she and Euphie started scheming against him. But to anyone else it would just be one of the sweetest smiles they'd ever seen.

"Nunna!" Shirley said indignantly as Milly laughed at Nunnally's observation.

Milly was the only one in Ashford other than Lelouch who could recognize Nunnally's teasing smile, having helped her and Euphie plan some of the pranks they'd played on the young Lelouch.

The young girl had mastered the art of the innocent smile at the tender age of five and it merely added to her devious nature. Even Milly had been wary of messing too much with Nunnally because if there was one thing she learned at the Aries Villa, it was you don't get between Nunnally and Lelouch or vice versa.

She felt bad for the poor fools who tried to date either of the siblings, because if they wanted to date one, but didn't pass the approval of the other the odds of that person having a healthy relationship with the other sibling were nonexistent. It was just that simple.

"Speaking of Lelouch, where is he? I don't see him." Alice asked once Milly calmed down. Nunnally had felt Alice shift as she sat down on the grass next her wheelchair to eat her lunch while the younger Lamperouge opened her own.

Since eating with silverware or other utensils was difficult for Nunnally without assistance and the only one whose help when it came to eating she would accept was Lelouch's, Sayoko always made sure to make a simple lunch that Nunnally could eat with her hands.

As Nunnally took a small bite of her sandwich, Milly answered her friend's question. "We were actually just talking about that. Lelouch said he and Rivalz had an appointment to get to, but that they'd be back before lunch ended." Milly explained. "We've been expecting them back for a while now."

Nunnally frowned as she heard this. "Alice, what time is it?" She asked her friend.

Nunnally heard the shifting of clothing as Alice reached into her pocket to pull out her phone. "It's 11:58, Nunnally." She said. "Why?"

Nunnally gave a small smile that sent shivers down Milly's spine. It was back again.

"I'm going to call him of course." Nunnally said succinctly as she reached into her Ashford uniform's pocket for her phone. "Big Brother shouldn't keep people like Milly and Shirley waiting, it's very rude."

As she was feeling around the Braille numbers on her phone's keypad, pressing down her brother's phone number, she heard a small cough and turned to the third girl who she hadn't noticed. "Oh, I'm sorry Nina. It's rude for Lelou to keep you waiting too." She said kindly to make up for her mistake.

Nina was always so quiet that without the tapping of the keyboard or the turning of a book's pages that usually accompanied the scientific girl, it was difficult for Nunnally to know where she was at times.

She put her phone up to her ear as she heard it ring. "Hello, this is Lelou–"

Nunnally interrupted Lelouch, ""Big Brother, where are you?! Lunch is almost over. If you're not back soon you're going to be late to class again!"

As Lelouch responded Nunnally frowned. "Sorry Nunnally, it looks like we're going to be late. Rivalz and I were just about to leave when you called." He spoke quickly, "Hey, how about I take you out shopping tomorrow? My treat. After all, my opponent paid three times more than the original bet today."

Nunnally grinned at Lelouch's offer. He wasn't going to escape the consequences of keeping five ladies waiting so easily. "I suppose that would be fine." She said in assent. Her grin widened when she heard him sigh in relief and she continued. "But we're taking Milly with us so I can get a proper female point of view." Lelouch choked over the phone and Nunnally quickly finished her call. "Talk to you soon Big Brother, I love you!" Nunnally clicked her phone shut and started giggling madly.

Her friend Alice started laughing as she realized what Nunnally did.

Milly Ashford's Shopping Sprees were something of an urban legend in the middle school level of Ashford Academy and based on Lelouch's reaction that they had heard over the phone they weren't exaggerated.

Milly cackled evilly and began plotting how to 'torture' her disobedient little Lulu. With Nunnally's permission of course. He couldn't be Vice-President of her Student Council and expect to not get in trouble if he failed to keep his appointments with her.

Shirley simply sighed as she saw the three girls laugh at Lelouch's misfortune. She thought it was a bit extreme for simply being a little late. What she didn't realize was that this was Milly and Nunnally's way of getting Lelouch to lighten up a little bit.

He was always so serious, so, in a way, he needed Milly's antics to help him relax every once and a while. Nunnally could only do so much for him after all.

Nina just sat quietly as she ate her lunch, not really feeling like joining in the laughter, but still finding some amusement in their Vice-President's predicament. She didn't really feel much toward Lelouch, although he was definitely an interesting person, what she mostly felt toward Lelouch was an intense scientific curiosity and an appreciative mutual friendship. He was an enigma. Cold and calculating, aloof and unaffected by pretty much everything, and yet he could be so kind and gentle in his interactions with his little sister.

He intrigued her, especially since he was one of the few people to seem interested in the same subjects as her. Though he had none of the proper skills that she did when it came to physics, she was surprised to find out that there was someone else her age who could understand such complex scientific equations. Sometimes she wished he were a woman, but realized that was a useless wish.

Although she did have to admit he looked better than most girls while in drag. Milly's Cross Dresser's Ball could have ruined many a girl's self-confidence, had so many of them not been enamored with Lelouch, when he walked in pulling off the dress Milly had forced him into perfectly. Nina wondered absentmindedly what Milly had done to force Lelouch into that dress, but disregarded the thought as unimportant.

As Nunnally calmed down from her giggling, she finished her lunch, discussing inane topics with the rest of the Student Council for the rest of the break.

Although she and Alice were only junior members, they still helped out when they could and they enjoyed spending time with the older girls.

Though nothing could compare to spending time with her Onii-sama, Nunnally was content to wait until he returned from his match. In the meantime, she could simply discuss ideas of what to do with Lelouch tomorrow with Milly.

Eventually though, the break ended and they needed to go their separate ways to get to class. Nunnally sighed contently as Alice pushed her wheelchair to their next class. "Thank you Alice. You're my best friend." Nunnally said softly.

She hadn't been close to a girl her age since Euphie at the Aries Villa and Kaguya after her and Lelouch's exile to Japan. But she was glad to have found another close friend in Alice, even if she were unaware of Nunnally's existence as a supposed to be dead Princess.

Nunnally couldn't see it, but Alice returned her smile as she replied softly, "You're welcome Nunnally, and you're my best friend too." The two of them remained silent as they made their way to their next class, no more words needing to be exchanged between the two.

* * *

(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Nurse's Office – 1:18 pm – September 11 – 2017 a.t.b)

Nunnally moaned in pain slightly as she regained consciousness. She heard Alice speaking to her, but she could only make out the tail-end of her sentence.

"Thank God you're alright Nunnally." Alice said as she sat by her best friend's bedside. Nunnally had collapsed for some reason while sitting in class and Alice immediately volunteered to take her to the nurse's office in her worry for her friend.

"What happened?" Nunnally wondered in confusion. The last thing she remembered was an intense feeling of shock while sitting in class, followed by a different darkness than she was used to as she fainted.

"You just collapsed for some reason in the middle of class, so the nurse called someone named Sayoko to come pick you up." Alice explained. "Are you okay Nunnally? Do you want me to get you anything?" Her friend offered.

Nunnally's face tightened as she thought, '_Onii-sama is in trouble. I don't know what kind of trouble, but I know that Onii-sama is in danger._' She clenched her fists under her sheets as she sat up. "Alice," Nunnally said softly, "could you get me some water please?"

As Alice quickly left the room to go get Nunnally some bottled water, Nunnally felt slightly guilty at deceiving her friend to make her leave, but she knew that Alice wouldn't leave otherwise. She would be too worried that Nunnally could faint again, but if she thought getting some water would help her stay awake; it would get her to leave for a short time.

"Sayoko, I know you're in here." Nunnally said as she heard the maid's breathing quicken slightly in surprise. "Please, help me into my chair. I want to leave before Alice comes back." She heard the sound of cloth rustling before she felt strong, but thin arms lift her up and put her in her wheelchair.

"Of course, young mistress." Her maid's voice spoke softly. "It never ceases to amaze me that you can tell when I'm nearby." The shinobi maid said quietly as she placed her charge into her wheelchair.

Nunnally didn't respond until Sayoko took them out of the Academy area of the Ashford estate and made her way into their home in the Ashford Academy Clubhouse/Guest house.

Once Nunnally and Sayoko had made their way to their home Nunnally explained, "I think that Onii-sama is in trouble." She just knew that Lelouch was in danger. She could _feel_ it.

Over the past seven years, she had developed an empathic connection with her brother. She wasn't sure if he was consciously aware of it or not, but Nunnally was far more sensitive to her own body and mind after being so thoroughly crippled so she noticed their connection with each other almost as soon as it became strong enough for their emotions to be noticed by the other person. It was strange and it didn't seem to be limited by distance, but it wasn't the weirdest thing about her new awareness.

Her other four senses were much better than the average human's, but what was the most strange to her was a unique extrasensory ability she'd gained after a few months of not having her legs or sight. She could tell just by holding someone's hand whether or not they were lying, and most of them simply thought she was feeling the change in heart-rate or the change in body temperature that signaled a lie. She was content to let them believe that because it made far more sense than what she actually did. Besides, even her sense of touch wasn't that good. She just knew, like some kind of weird intuition, if someone was lying to her or not when they held her hand.

Suzaku and Kaguya used to play 'Try to lie to Nunnally' games with her and she would always win since she could tell their lies from the truth very easily. She'd tried to get her Onii-sama to play it too, but, since Lelouch had taken his promise to never lie to her very seriously, he refused. He wouldn't put his promise to her on hold even for a game.

Before Sayoko could respond, her phone rang.

Nunnally waited patiently as she heard Sayoko's side of the conversation clearly. She could hear her brother's voice, but she couldn't make out his words. There were too many loud noises in the background on his end.

Nunnally frowned at the maid as she turned on the television to check the news on the Shinjuku Ghetto and explained the situation according to the news.

Once the conversation ended, Sayoko clicked her phone shut. "The young master is in trouble in the Shinjuku Ghetto." Sayoko said simply, knowing what Nunnally was going to ask. "It seems he is being pursued by the military along with a woman he saved."

Nunnally frowned and turned to face Sayoko, determination etched into her young face. "I'm coming with you Sayoko; I want to be there when Onii-sama arrives." She wasn't going to argue this; she needed to feel that Lelouch was alright with her own two hands before she could rest.

Her maid simply sighed as she turned off the television. Nunnally wouldn't let this go and she needed to hurry if she was going to be able to make it to the Shinjuku Ghetto before traffic made it impossible.

"Very well, young mistress." Sayoko acquiesced, "But please, don't do anything reckless." The woman pleaded quietly as she pushed Nunnally's wheelchair toward the car. "The young master wouldn't be able to handle it if he lost you and I would miss you greatly as well."

Sayoko quickly started the car once Nunnally was safely buckled in and drove off the Ashford estate toward the Shinjuku Ghetto after turning on her phone to see where Lelouch's signal was transmitting from.

'_Please be okay Onii-sama._' Nunnally thought silently to herself as Sayoko drove the two of them to the Ghetto. To Lelouch.

Though Nunnally couldn't shake the feeling that things were about to change, and that the life she lived would never be the same after today.

* * *

(Shinjuku Ghetto, Area Eleven – Abandoned Street – 2:01 pm – September 11 – 2017 a.t.b)

As Sayoko drove cautiously throughout the Ghetto that used to be the once bustling Shinjuku District, she did her best to avoid any area that appeared to have the military stationed nearby. She couldn't afford to risk her charge's safety and Lelouch's signal was currently surrounded by the military. She figured her young master was either aiding the terrorists so he could escape or he was currently in protective custody. Of course, knowing her master as well as she did, she assumed it was the former since he still detested the latter for their actions seven years ago.

Suddenly, the car dipped forward after Sayoko accidentally ran into a pothole that had been hidden in the shadow of a tall building. The car jerked and the airbags deployed in reaction to the violent movement, knocking the shinobi maid unconscious from the combination of the momentum slamming her forward and the airbags strength as they burst outward. Luckily the car was mostly fine, the damage having mostly been cosmetic and just a reaction of the momentum deploying the airbags, but that still left Nunnally as the only conscious person in the car.

"Sayoko?" Nunnally asked carefully after recovering from the sudden crash. "Sayoko are you alright?!" Nunnally was worried until she heard the woman groan, her unconsciousness preventing her from responding, but relieving Nunnally that she was still alive.

Nunnally unbuckled herself and opened her door. She quickly crawled out of the car and made her way to where she knew the driver's side of the car was. She tried to open the door, but found herself unable to after feeling the damage incurred from the crash had made the normal handholds impossible for her to grab properly.

"Ouch!" She cut herself slightly on a sharp piece of metal as she tried to pull the door open.

Suddenly a terribly familiar smell made its way into her nose. "Burning flesh?" Nunnally's voice trembled in fear. Nightmarish images of her brother's body burning entered her mind as she tried to save Sayoko. "No, no, he has to be okay, he just has to be." Nunnally mumbled in fear as she tried to erase the image from her head as the scent continued to infiltrate her senses.

After a few more minutes of fruitlessly trying to open the door with her sightless eyes making it impossible, Nunnally started crying in fear as even more images of her beloved brother's demise began developing in mind. Her fear taking over since she was all alone. "Britannia's taken mother and now it's taken Onii-sama!" She screamed in fear and anger, "Haven't you already taken enough from me?" She screamed to the world, "Give him back! Give me back my precious Onii-sama!" Nunnally sobbed before she felt something soft touch her hand.

"I've been waiting for you, my White Witch." A small feminine voice said to her as it held Nunnally's hand. She turned her sightless eyes in the direction she heard the voice, looking down in confusion at a having heard it at a much lower height than normal. "I'm a keepsake from your brother." The voice said.

Nunnally frowned. "A keepsake?" She reached out blindly as she tried to hit whatever the thing talking to her was. "No you're not! Onii-sama doesn't have anything like whatever you are!" Nunnally shouted before she felt her body being dragged down. Her world once again faded to a darkness she was unfamiliar with as an image of her mother flashed through her mind.

"I can feel your wrath, towards the one who killed your mother and stole your freedom."

An image of the Emperor flashed through her mind as well.

"I can feel your hatred at the man who caused your brother to become unstable."

Nunnally gasped as whatever this thing was said its last statement. Her brother, after the invasion of Japan, had changed. Whereas before he only hated the Emperor and whoever the one had murdered their mother, after the invasion of Japan, he had begun to despise Britannia as a whole.

His way of thinking had also begun to change, as a sort of defense mechanism the two of them believed. His perception of the world and those who resided in it, including himself, became distorted. Most of who he was stayed the same on the surface, but underneath, how he thought and his way of reasoning had become vastly different. Lelouch realized this himself rather quickly so he had managed to avoid being examined by a psychologist, but since Lelouch had been scared about whether or not Nunnally would accept him he felt the need to face his fear as soon as he could.

He explained to Nunnally the best he could after he became self-aware enough to notice the changes in himself, but she had surprised him.

After learning that her brother believed himself to have been distorted, Nunnally's greatest fear had been that he didn't love her anymore. Lelouch had quickly reassured her that he loved her more than anything else in the world. After being reassured by her Onii-sama, Nunnally returned the favor. She had explained that no matter how much he changed, she would always love him just as much as she always did.

It hadn't fixed her brother, nothing could fix something so distorted that it was beyond broken, but it had reassured him and it allowed him to retain a mask of normality that allowed him to interact with people normally.

However, all of that was the two siblings' greatest secret. They would never let that knowledge come to light if they had any choice about it. '_How does this thing know about Onii-sama?!_' Nunnally thought worriedly.

Whatever the thing was, it ignored Nunnally's thoughts as it continued to speak to her.

"And finally, I can feel the love and dedication you have for your brother, no matter what he may turn into." It finished.

Nunnally trembled. "How do you know all of this?" She asked feeling terrified of something that could unearth her deepest secrets so easily.

It ignored Nunnally's question. "You siblings have been chosen, to change this world. Whether you are aware of each other's part in it or not."

Suddenly, an image flashed in Nunnally's mind, twin planets floating on a collision course toward each other.

"I will give you the power to aid your precious brother." Its voice echoed.

"Power?" Nunnally questioned. Power to help her Onii-sama?

"Yes," it spoke, "this is a contract. If you would accept one wish of mine, I will grant you power. The power to live with your precious brother and fight by his side."

Nunnally reached out her hand blindly, desperately grasping for whatever was offering her this gift.

A memory of her brother flashed through her mind.

"_I will never abandon you Nunnally. From now on, I will be your legs and your eyes for you. I will always take care of you, I promise._"

'_Now it's my turn to help you Onii-sama!_' Nunnally thought with conviction.

Her hand finally touched something in this strange world. "I accept your contract!" She shouted and, for the first time in seven years, Nunnally's eyes flashed open as she was cocooned in a pure white sphere of what appeared to be rubber.

Knowledge of this material – _no it's not an object, it's sentient and its name is_– "Nemo!" A female voice shouted in glee. "Thank you Princess Nunnally. Thanks to you, I finally have a physical form." A girl with the exact same height and build as Nunnally floated into this strange void. The only difference between the two Nunnally's were the copies eyes were a bright crimson red and its hair was a light platinum blonde instead of the light brown hair and lilac eyes of the real Nunnally. Then suddenly a white light engulfed both Nunnally and her copy, destroying the cocoon surrounding them.

In the cocoon's place was a brand new Knightmare Frame. It was roughly the same height as a Sutherland, maybe a quarter of a foot or so shorter; a sleek dark blue armor covered the upper torso, the Factsphere, and its lower legs. Where the armor didn't cover, a crimson red metal material was able to be seen. Its hands were a strange shape, not really having a palm and instead having extremely sharp looking triangular bladed fingers that made up most of the hands. Its shoulders were guarded by golden plated shoulder guards and surrounding its Factsphere were six long gold hair-like extensions floating around the Knightmare Frame ominously.

Nunnally laughed, heedless of her nude form floating in a dark blue orb inside the cockpit of her new Knightmare Frame, which she knew to be named Mark Nemo. She moved her body and turned her head, marveling at the new freedoms she was suddenly able to experience inside this Frame.

She was careful to avoid the area where Sayoko and the car had crashed as she ran forward towards a random building. "I can run again!" She shouted with happiness.

She bent her legs inside the orb before pushing as if she was jumping and the Knightmare followed her command instantly. "I can jump!" She laughed as she landed on the roof of the building. "No more of that wheelchair! I'm free!" Nunnally laughed, feeling happier than she had in years. Almost nothing had given her so much joy than to have the freedom so cruelly stolen from her that night seven years ago returned to her.

"Hey, you on the roof!" A voice blared over a Sutherland's speakers.

Nunnally turned to face the one who called her and saw three Sutherlands on the street below her staring her down.

The one in the center blared its speakers again, "Turn all your weapons offline and come out of the cockpit! We are under orders from Prince Clovis to exterminate all terrorists along with the rest of the Shinjuku Ghetto! If you don't obey in the next twenty seconds, we will deal with you as a terrorist!"

Nunnally froze for a single instant as information flew through her mind. She saw the three Sutherlands before her teaming up with a strange white Knightmare and obliterating a fourth Sutherland. The fourth Sutherland's cockpit was crushed and Nunnally saw her Onii-sama's bloody mangled corpse along with the corpse of a green haired woman over his chest lying inside of it.

Nunnally screamed before the image disappeared and it was replaced with a different image. This one flashed through her mind much more quickly and much less detailed, but she knew that what she saw was far better than her previous vision. It was an image of the white Knightmare from her earlier vision pursuing the single Sutherland before the Sutherland escaped after accidentally causing a woman to fall out of a building with the white Knightmare saving the woman as her Onii-sama and the strange green-haired woman escaped after their Sutherland detonated in a pink explosion.

Knowledge of how she knew this flew through her mind. Through accepting that contract with Nemo, she had gained a new power. The Geass of Absolute Intuition, the power to see the lines of the future. Nunnally realized something else that was different about her. Her body may have been the same, but her hair was the same blonde as her earlier copy's. '_Does this mean, when my mind entered Nemo's form, she became the Knightmare I'm in right now?_' That was amazing.

Her Mark Nemo would always be the single most accessible Knightmare Frame during any situation. All she'd need to do would be to have her mind enter Nemo's astral body while Nemo transformed into her Knightmare! But wait, did that mean her own body was left behind?

Nunnally turned to face the direction of the car and used her Knightmare's Factsphere to zoom in. She gasped once she beheld her own prone body lying near Sayoko's door. Okay, so her power wasn't perfect after all. She wasn't sure what would happen if someone killed her comatose body while in her Knightmare, but she was sure she wouldn't like the result. '_I need to be very careful with the Mark Nemo, but first I need to make sure that these Sutherlands don't ever get the chance to hurt Onii-sama!_' Nunnally finished her thought in determined anger.

All of this had taken place within the first five seconds of her twenty second warning and Nunnally turned toward her enemies. "I won't let you through!" She shouted as she glared at her enemies in fury and began moving inside the dark blue orb with her Knightmare following her every motion.

She ran forward faster than the enemy Frames could react, somehow able to move faster than the Sutherlands despite the lack of Landspinners to increase the speed, toward the Knightmare in the center, her Geass telling her that one to be the most dangerous threat currently, and used the floating hair-like extensions, – _Blonde Knives_ –, to pierce the head of the Frame, forcing the pilot to eject or be shredded by her weapons as she targeted the cockpit next.

She swung her arms to her sides, using the sharp fingers to her advantage, by slicing the top of the heads off the Frames before bashing in the rest of the heads of the two Sutherlands on her sides just as the Blonde Knives pierced the now empty center Frame as the pilot ejected to survive. The other two pilots quickly followed suit once Nunnally turned her Blonde Knives, three on the left and three on the right, and sent them forward to pierce the two Knightmares.

Once she saw the three cockpits fly off into the distance, Nunnally laughed in triumph. "I did it Onii-sama! After all the times you saved me; finally, I saved you!" Now she could help her Onii-sama–

The thought in her mind cut itself off as Nunnally's eyes started to droop shut. "No," she mumbled tiredly, "I don't want to go back in the dark." Her eyelids slid shut as Nunnally collapsed in the orb inside the Mark Nemo before a bright light engulfed her inside Frame.

* * *

(Shinjuku Ghetto, Area Eleven – Abandoned Street – 2:36 pm – September 11 – 2017 a.t.b)

Nunnally groaned as she regained consciousness, once again in her own crippled body. She tried to move her legs, in a desperate attempt to stand and regain the freedom she only recently lost again, but her legs only responded weakly as they normally did whenever she moved them. They weren't anywhere near strong enough to support her.

"Damn it." She choked in sadness. "What kind of cruel trick is this?" She whispered to herself in anger. "Letting me have my legs and sight only to take them away all over again."

"It's no trick," a voice virtually identical to her own said behind her, "I just took over before you burned yourself out."

Nunnally turned to face the voice, surprised that she could somehow see Nemo despite her permanently closed eyelids. "What do you mean?" Nunnally asked in a confused tone.

Nemo smirked in the same way she did when she was younger and planning something with Euphie and Milly to mess with Lelouch.

"Did you really think using senses you haven't used for years would be easy? Your adrenaline was what was keeping you conscious while you were piloting me in the form of the Mark Nemo. After there was no longer an immediate threat, you collapsed inside the cockpit." Nemo explained.

"I simply took control of my normal form, this astral body you see before you despite your blindness, and your mind returned to your own body. By the way, while you were unconscious, Clovis ordered a ceasefire for some reason. You should be able to leave safely now and your maid will wake up soon."

Nunnally frowned in concentration as she processed the information. "What about Onii-sama?" She needed to know if he was going to be fine. For some reason though, she wasn't able to use her Geass to see if he was okay.

Nemo saw her confusion and answered her questions, both spoken and unspoken. "Your brother is going to be fine, in fact, he will show up very soon if you turn on the cloaked GPS on your phone right now." As Nunnally did that, Nemo explained why Nunnally was unable to use her Geass. "Your Geass, the power to read the lines of the future, is apparently only usable by you while you are in the Mark Nemo." She explained. "Otherwise, I seem to be the only one between the two of us who can use it to any effect. However it seems that since you're Wired, you can use a passive version of your Geass of Absolute Intuition whenever you touch someone's hands."

Nunnally's face contorted in confusion, but she decided to wait to ask any more questions once she heard the sound of footsteps rushing toward their position.

"Nunnally!" Lelouch shouted in surprise and relief. He quickly swept her up in a tight hug which she returned it with equal intensity. "What are you doing here?" He asked in a worried tone. "I only called Sayoko, besides shouldn't you be in class?"

Nunnally let out a choked giggle as she pressed her face into her Onii-sama's chest. He really was alive! He was okay! Though she took offense at him scolding her for being absent. "Like you're one to talk Lelou." She retorted happily. "I'm just so glad you're safe. Sayoko accidentally crashed into something and I can't wake her up. Can you please help me?"

Lelouch's chest vibrated as he chuckled at her scolding before stopping once he heard about Sayoko. "Sure thing Nunnally, but first there's someone who I'd like you to meet. She saved my life earlier." He explained calmly. "C.C., come introduce yourself to Nunnally."

Nunnally heard the sound of rustling cloth and the clinking of chains as C.C. stepped near her and reached slowly to grab her hand instead of holding her own out for Nunnally to shake. Once she held the girl's hand, C.C. gave it a squeeze in greeting and Nunnally returned it before letting go as the woman spoke. "Hello girl, you may call me C.C. and I hope we can get along well." The woman said softly.

Nunnally felt Nemo react oddly, but ignored it in favor of thanking the woman for saving her precious Onii-sama. "Hello miss C.C.," Nunnally spoke quietly as she yawned. The day's crazy events were finally catching up to her, making her sleepy. "Thank you for saving my Big Brother. I know he can get into trouble a lot, so thank you for helping him." She said as she began to nod off. "Can you help him wake up Sayoko?" She asked cheekily. "Lelou is hopeless when it comes to physical activities."

She felt her brother huff in false annoyance as the woman laughed quietly. "Of course. After all this Sayoko woman was coming to save me after your brother helped me escape from the soldiers after me. Helping her out is the least I can do."

Nunnally smiled in thanks as she finally entered a much more familiar and comforting darkness than the previous two times she fell unconscious, happy that Lelouch was still alive.

And thus, in the arms of the Black Devil and in the presence of the Gray Witch, the White Witch entered her slumber peacefully for the first time that day.

* * *

**Author's Note: I want to explain myself before anyone makes any judgments about the Mark Nemo. In the manga, it's not entirely clear how it's summoned, so I took some liberty with having Nunnally take over Nemo's normal form, which I think is like an astral body only brought into the physical world by Nunnally, and after Nunnally takes over that body, Nemo transforms into the Mark Nemo.**

**Also, the exact time when Nunnally passed out in class is the exact instant that Lelouch sees Suzaku shot in the back. The empathic link (which actually may be canon since the last episode has Nunnally see Lelouch's memories before he dies) I mention between the two sent that powerful shock into Nunnally and since she was unprepared it ended up knocking her unconscious, only aware that Lelouch was in danger.**

**Also, I hope you all like how I have tied Nunnally's natural ability to tell lies into part of her Geass. I think the Geass of Absolute Intuition would suit someone who can read the lines of the future along with being able to tell whether or not someone is lying when they hold their hand don't you think?**

**I hope that this chapter managed to do the bond between Lelouch and Nunnally justice and I hope I explained Lelouch's distorted mental state well enough for those who wanted more information on the subject.**

**Now,**

**Lelouch vi Britannia commands you, REVIEW!**

**Draconias Over and Out.**


	4. Chapter 3: The Knight's Fall (Part One)

"I hereby renounce my claim to the throne!" – Regular speaking

'_How dare the Emperor abandon Nunnally!_' – Regular thinking; Italics not in singular quotations are used for emphasis

"Q-1, strike the left flank now!" – Speaking as heard over radios and other communication devices

"**Lelouch vi Britannia commands you, DIE!**" Speech influenced by using Geass

**Minor Author's Note: Despite the appearance of a large word count, this chapter actually has less than twenty thousand words. It is mostly my replies to my reviews that make it seem so long. Just thought I should let you know that this chapter isn't as enormous as my second one despite appearances to the contrary.**

**Review Replies**

**kenshin620** – Thanks… I think. Anyway, yes Lelouch is aware that Nunnally knows that he isn't as sane as he portrays himself, but he's not completely insane. His sanity just isn't the most stable around, that's all. However, he is completely unaware of the Mark Nemo and her own Geass contract.

Also, in Sayoko's defense, it was a pothole hidden in the shadow of a building that collapsed right underneath the car. I guess I didn't really describe it well enough. It seemed like a small pothole and it wasn't the most visible either, plus she was looking out and around to avoid the military, not down for small insignificant potholes on a road filled with them. It was less her skill at driving and more like something that she couldn't have possibly noticed because there was really nothing to notice until it was too late.

**Orchamus** – I'm glad you like it so far and you don't need to worry. I'm going to focus more on the anime's plot with Nightmare of Nunnally elements and characters thrown in. Besides, as an agnostic, I don't really have much of an interest in the religious aspects of anything and the only reason I'm using the term God so much in this is because there are some elements of Christianity in canon despite it clearly not being as wide-spread as in our world. So I figured it would be an appropriate usage of the term as slang like it is in our world.

**Kinunatzs** – Nunnally isn't going to join the Black Knights, but she won't be fighting against them either. She's going to be a wildcard that helps them out when she can, but Lelouch would never let her join his army. She's a major reason he's fighting and he would never voluntarily put her life at risk. Ever.

Anyway, glad you liked my chapter, and here is the update.

**NIX'S WARDEN**– I'm glad you like it so far and no, not yet at least, but… It's complicated. C.C. was grateful for Lelouch's kindness after accidentally dropping her in the tunnels, something he didn't do in canon, and the fact that she was able to have a civil conversation with him instead of him trying to interrogate her right away like in canon. She _was_ flirting with him, but Lelouch doesn't know her all that well yet so he's not interested in a relationship with her yet. He just went along with her flirting for fun. Plus, she had learned about everything wrong with him and didn't leave or look at him in disgust. Something that he only expected Nunnally to ever fully accept him for after learning about his mental distortion and he felt grateful that, even after seeing how messed up he was, she still chose to stay by his side.

I'm glad you think so, I've only recently started binge watching Code Geass and reading some of the fanfiction in the section and I just had this awesome idea for the plot. I got bored so I decided to write it for the hell of it.

**Imperial warlord**– Thank you.

**Lord Arkan**– Thank you and I hope you enjoy the new chapter.

**Kirinthor**– Thank you.

**Magus** – Yeah, I won't be doing something like that again, but I just couldn't leave Shinjuku until Clovis was dead. It was freaking exhausting writing that chapter and I much prefer my chapter lengths between 7,000 words at minimum to 20,000 words at maximum normally.

Now, I also believe that Lelouch had no intention of causing the SAZ Massacre, but that is what I believe makes Geass Runaway so dangerous. It takes your statements literally since you no longer need to consciously activate the Geass with an intention behind using it, thus leaving things much less open to interpretation.

I noticed that in my last response to you I forgot to explain the specific intention Lelouch had when he gave Villetta the command to "Answer his questions." His intention behind that Geass order was "To gain the knowledge he desired." and since the intention didn't just encompass the knowledge of the current events, but knowledge about his Geass too, it was much more open-ended. The intent was vague and since, when he gave the question "Do you acknowledge this as the truth?" to Villetta, he asked a question with the intent of 'discovering whether or not his Geass could completely subvert someone's free will' and that technically falls under the intent of 'gaining the knowledge he desired' allowing for the events of that scene to take place. I hope that this clears it up better for you and if not, can you recommend how you think I could make that scene better? I want my chapters to be the best that they can be so I have no problem going back to edit something as minor as a conversation to make it run smoother.

I'm glad that you like how I handled Nunnally, but I don't really consider my earlier chapter a 'stumble' since learning how to be a better writer as I'm writing is important. So if I make a mistake or describe a scene oddly, I'd like to know how I can improve it. There's always room for improvement and I have no problem with your very helpful constructive criticism. So thank you for that. You're a very helpful reviewer.

By the way, since you've mentioned you're a fan of Fate/Stay Night I was wondering what you think about how I use the term distorted when referring to Lelouch. In a way, he's sort of a fusion between Shirou and Kirei, you know, sort of a Shirou to those he loves, but definitely someone who feels joy in his enemies' (i.e. the soldiers who he thought killed Suzaku) pain like Kirei, with his own personality traits mixed in and I want to know what you think of that.

**MIoismoe**– Thank you and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**MM Browsing** – I'm just going to list out my responses to your review since it's a bit hard to follow.

No, the Zero Armor isn't like the symbiotic parasite in Spiderman and, while it has similarities with the Iron Man armor, don't expect him to be blasting out energy from his palms or flying in the Zero Armor from jet boots.

The power source is the liquid Sakuradite batteries, at least that's the only power source that Lelouch is capable of obtaining. The chamber that filled the suit with the liquid Sakuradite in the lab was destroyed and Lelouch won't be going back there so he will be reverse engineering the liquid Sakuradite batteries from the samples he has from the case with Ruben's help. Though, he won't need to change the batteries often because the liquid Sakuradite is a very powerful fuel source and it doesn't need to be changed frequently like gasoline.

He suspects the Emperor is aware of the nature of Geass, I mentioned that in an earlier chapter, but he isn't aware of everything. All of his assumptions and knowledge about that night is either derived from logic, or new knowledge influencing previously existing knowledge. That's it, he isn't a super detective so he doesn't know everything about that night and he isn't aware of Charles having a Geass. Again, I will not have an alliance between Schneizel, Lelouch, and Cornelia this early in the story, if I do have one at all.

Alive. They ejected.

No, as you'll see in this chapter, he values C.C.'s partnership with him over _potential_ allies in the forms of the Irregulars. Plus, C.C. called the Irregulars abominations so he knows that she's offended/appalled at the nature of the artificial Geass so he won't even attempt to make one.

The first two chapters needed to be done from their points of view so I could highlight their differences from their canonical counterparts. From now on, while I will mostly be sticking to a chosen main characters point of view, I will be adding differing perspectives more frequently now, as you will see with my adding C.C.'s perspective of a small scene in this chapter.

Not exactly, but Lelouch has trusted Sayoko with Nunnally so he won't keep too many secrets from her. Also, it wasn't a case of not keeping secrets, there are some parts of a male/female life that the other gender just doesn't really want to know about no matter how close they are, their promise was only to not to lie to each other. Deliberately avoiding a subject or using words to impress false assumptions isn't lying; it's just avoiding saying the truth while technically still speaking honestly.

Case in point, Lelouch making the terrorists believe that he had only found the truck after it was blown up by twisting his words around. Implying things isn't the same as lying.

The differences are my inflection of an accent. Leh-loo is how Nunnally, Euphemia, Cornelia, Schneizel, and Clovis pronounce Lelouch's nickname. You can think of it like a Pendragon accent if you want. Loo-loo, is how Milly, Shirley, and other characters would pronounce his nickname. Nunnally's is spelled Lelou, and the other is spelled as Lulu. Hope that clears it up.

**DefconDeceiver**– Thank you for your review. Also, its fine everyone makes mistakes.

I think a true Geass, a Geass of Absolute (Insert Descriptive Name here), is something that manifests as the Geass user's greatest wish. For example, Lelouch desires to control as many things as he can so he can never feel as helpless as the night his mother was murdered. (And for God's sake the man turned _his own public execution_ into a dramatic performance that would make Shakespeare weep in envy! Controlling even his own 'death'! If that doesn't imply someone wishing to control everything around them I don't know what would.)

The Geass of Absolute Obedience.

Nunnally's greatest wish, aside from being able to live happily ever after with her Onii-sama, is to "see everything" since she lost her eyesight. This translates, at least in this story, as being able to see the most likely possibilities of the near future.

The Geass of Absolute Intuition.

Charles had a very terrible childhood, see Emblem of Blood incident, and so his Geass manifested into the desire to control memories since he wished for his halcyon days if you will.

The Geass of Absolute Memory.

Rolo wanted to be able to make his happy moments last as long as he could, manifesting in the ability to stop time.

The Geass of Absolute Time.

C.C.'s wish was to be loved and we all know how that one backfired.

The Geass of Absolute Adoration.

We've learned that Mao was a homeless child when C.C. had given him his Geass so maybe his wish was to learn how to make people care about him, manifesting into the ability to read minds.

The Geass of Absolute Sound.

Marianne most likely had a wish 'not to die' at some point and it manifested in the ability to transfer her mind and soul into someone else to allow her identity to survive her physical body's death.

The Geass of Absolute Existence.

Bismarck's most likely manifested from a desire to 'see what was coming before it happened' allowing him to see a few seconds into the future.

The Geass of Absolute Perception.

The children in the Geass Directorate who called Rolo their big brother probably all wished for some control over their own lives since I doubt the Director, being the asshole that V.V. is, would allow them any actual freedom. Thus manifesting into the Geass to move other people's bodies against their will.

The Geass of Absolute Control.

An _artificial_ Geass however, is different. Its abilities are artificially endowed upon a test subject, completely skipping the part of the person's greatest desire, thus forming Geass abilities like The Land, The Order, The Power, and The Speed.

At least, this is the way I will portray Geass from the anime vs. the Geass from the manga. Barring Nunnally's of course, but that one _was_ made under a contract so I consider it to be different.

I am thinking about having Nunnally go to the hotel so that she and Euphie can meet and they can see Zero up close. Well, in Nunnally's case meet Zero, but you know what I mean. I wasn't planning on having her rescue the hostages because I couldn't have her summon the Mark Nemo inside the hotel and end up crushing her unconscious body. I think it would be interesting to have Lelouch as Zero and Nunnally meet up, but I still haven't decided completely about how I want to go about the Kawaguchi Hotel Incident in this story yet. Lelouch won't be aware of the one piloting the Mark Nemo, in the manga he knew and he revealed himself to Nunnally at Saitama to ask her not to pilot it anymore, but he will incorporate his knowledge of a unique Knightmare on his side into his plans. He obviously won't depend on it for much, but he will find uses for it.

Unless it's to those he cares deeply about, Lelouch, as Zero, is a combat pragmatist with a flair for the dramatic that can draw people of all nationalities into his fold with his overwhelming charisma. That is how I'm going to try and portray him.

Lelouch will lead like he does in canon, but he will be able to fight on the front lines if he needs to because of the Zero Armor. He will stay back in a Knightmare mostly because it's easier to monitor a battle from something like that, but his Zero Armor will more than make up for his deficiencies as a pilot. And technically speaking, superior tech does make a difference, but I'm not willing to argue semantics when it comes to the second season considering I sort of agree with you.

Todoh had managed to train up Lelouch's reflexes so that his body can react before his mind on instinct, but his physical strength and stamina still suck terribly. His body is just too frail to properly build up the required muscle, or at least that's his excuse in this story and it seems pretty plausible given all the strange medical conditions out in the world. Physical frailty like that is hardly the strangest one in the world.

When it comes to Sayoko's accident, I just want to say, airbags fucking _hurt_. Plus she got hit right on the head as her head was flung forward into the airbags as they were bursting out. I think it's pretty plausible to be knocked out in that situation. Besides, that's the whole reason it's called an accident. You can't prepare for everything and there's this one news story about a guy who almost lost his eye when his airbags went off after his car hit a pothole. I probably could have described the scene better, but after Sayoko was knocked out I was writing from a crippled blind thirteen year old girl's point of view. It's kind of hard to describe the damage of a car crashing into a pothole from that kind of perspective, so I would appreciate it if my readers could cut me some slack for trying to maintain Nunnally's point of view after the accident.

It's Lelouch's insanity and instability that allows him to come up with ways to use the planet itself as a weapon against his enemies in ways a normal person would never think of so I agree with you that sanity can definitely be a hindrance sometimes. Still, Lelouch is, like C.C. said, very well adjusted right now compared to many other people who are psychopaths (I'm using the term psychopath in the context of someone who has a 'mind sickness' like it's medical definition, not the kind that go around slaughtering people for the hell of it like the media normally portrays psychopathy.) and Lelouch will seem sane most of the time, just don't forget that he's self-aware enough to self-diagnose his own madness so take his sanity mask with a grain of salt unless it's the tamer scenes like the ones at Ashford.

While I was unaware of much that you told me until now, I want to point out that there was still a World War I in the Code Geass universe so sniper rifles may have still been invented. And besides, do you honestly believe that snipers have a chance against Knightmare Frames? Of course we wouldn't see them in the series, even if they did still exist. They are pretty much obsolete weaponry in the current time of this story anyway. Like I said, it was an old strategy book Lelouch read that from, so it would have information about certain tactics and strategies used by different types of soldier units, snipers included.

Anyway, I hope that my answers were a good enough explanation for you. I'm glad you like the story so far and I hope that you continue to enjoy it.

**Disclaimer: I don't own any franchise that is used in this story nor do I make any profit from it whatsoever.**

I hope you all enjoy the new chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Knight's Fall (Part One)**

* * *

(Shinjuku Ghetto, Area Eleven – Clovis' G-1 Command Center – 2:22 pm – September 11 – 2017 a.t.b)

Lelouch's hands shook slightly as he typed in the password to unlock the safe behind his now dead brother's throne. He couldn't afford to leave the information about C.C. in enemy hands. He'd also have to do something about the base at Narita eventually, but for the moment he needed to focus on the present. He also needed to make sure that he left before anyone not under his control entered the room and found the corpse that was formerly known as Prince Clovis.

"Your hands are shaking." C.C. observed as Lelouch removed the briefcase containing all the data on her from the safe. "What makes this kill so different from your earlier ones?" She said in that same bored tone she used when they had first spoken to each other. She wondered what he would do with the information on her. Would he use it to try and blackmail her? Or maybe he would study it to see how 'immortal' she truly was? There were many possibilities of what he would do with all that knowledge and she wondered which one he would pick.

Lelouch silently picked up the briefcase from the safe before turning and picking up the other case containing his Ashford Academy uniform and his armor as he made his way to the door of the command room. "Clovis and I used to be close." He said in a slightly shaky voice. "Seeing what he had become, it made it easy to pull the trigger."

He took a shaky breath as he passed his brother's cooling body on the throne and walked to the exit. "But that doesn't mean I enjoyed it." He realized absentmindedly how that last statement would sound and decided to clarify. "I didn't really earlier, but I also didn't feel really anything for them either." He explained, "They were just faces on soon to be corpses. Nothing special. Killing Clovis, though…"

He paused as he turned to the green haired woman in the shadows, before facing the door as it opened automatically with his hair shadowing his eyes, "It was simply… necessary." He said tiredly. He didn't want to speak of it anymore at the moment. Besides, he had something more important to worry about.

His mind had gone blank before he pulled the trigger. He wasn't sure what he'd said or done other than putting the bullet through Clovis' skull, but he knew he hadn't been able to act completely sane for a moment. He wasn't sure for how long though. The length and timings of each 'episode' were always infrequent.

The periods of madness he experienced, they were normally extremely rare, at least months apart, and to have two in the same day, once with the soldiers and another in front of Clovis before killing him… Though it was a very stressful day… He needed to rest. '_I can't think right now._' Lelouch thought in irritation as he and C.C. walked calmly out of the G-1 while avoiding the patrols and other groups of soldiers. '_I need to be in a place where I can think everything through properly._' He had an enormous headache right now.

Once he and C.C. had made it to a secluded area of the Ghetto, Lelouch set down the two cases he was carrying and pulled out his Ashford Academy uniform from under his armor. He quickly removed his stolen uniform and put it on.

He then took out his communicator and spoke into it; he needed to make sure his allies didn't think he'd abandoned them. "Clovis is dead." He said simply as he tugged at his collar to loosen it slightly. He waited for the inevitable response to such a bold claim.

"What?!" A loud voice shouted over the radio. It was the one he'd labeled P-5. "What do you mean Clovis is dead?"

Lelouch explained the events that his allies needed to know. "After forcing Clovis to order the ceasefire, I put a bullet into his skull between his eyes." He said irritably. He didn't have time for this right now. "Does that explain things well enough P-5?"

Lelouch pinched the bridge of his nose as he heard cheering over the radio before speaking one last time. "I will contact you in a few days, until then B-1 is in charge." He trusted his Bishop to not make any costly mistakes without his guidance. After all, the man had led them this far without Lelouch's help.

He dropped the communicator before crushing it beneath his foot. Being an old radio, it wasn't that hard to crush. While it would have been useful to take home, he couldn't afford to have any physical evidence linking him to terrorists. He would find some way to contact them soon, but for now he needed to eliminate any links between himself and them.

He noticed that there was a box of matches next to a canister of old gasoline nearby and thought '_Perfect._' A terrorist or an arsonist had probably abandoned it during the massacre. Still, he wouldn't complain about his luck getting better for once today. He quickly covered the uniform and the shards of the communicator in the flammable liquid and lit a match.

As the material caught ablaze, he knelt down and opened up the case containing the flash drive and turned to his accomplice. "So, what would you like me to do with this information, my immortal witch?" Lelouch asked her as stood up and held the drive towards her with the flames to his back and the two cases at his sides. He saw her eyes widen in slight surprise.

He smirked. "What? Did you think I would take the information that Clovis had stolen from you when I have all that information and more with you on my side?" Lelouch asked rhetorically. "Besides, it's only right for me to return what's rightfully yours. If you choose to let me know about what Clovis did that's your decision and yours alone."

Hopefully this would give her the impression he desired. He needed her to trust him and he needed to know more about her before he could trust her. But if he used the information on the flash drive to learn about her, it could damage the sparse trust they currently had between each other and Lelouch wasn't willing to get the information faster at the expense of their partnership. She knew far too much for him to risk their alliance so recklessly. Most importantly though, was the fact that she was aware of his two greatest secrets. Nunnally and his mental distortion. He needed her on his side or she could ruin everything.

Of course, he suspected that she was most likely aware of what he was attempting with this gesture, she had seen the inside of his twisted mind after all, but he was genuine when he said he wouldn't take something that belonged to her. All the information contained on the flash drive was about C.C., and as such, it belonged to her and her alone. If she felt he needed to know something about her, like with the Irregulars, she would tell him and as long as it didn't compromise Nunnally's safety Lelouch was fine with her having her own secrets for now.

C.C.'s lips peeled into a small smile, revealing her teeth slightly as she replied, "I was right, you really are very interesting." So the young boy had chosen her over using the information to his advantage. She hadn't expected that. She knew he was attempting to influence her perception of him slightly with this gesture, but she could tell he was also genuine when he mentioned giving her what was hers to begin with. His mind was so interesting. It was clear his earlier statement about feeling shame in front of her wasn't merely bravado either, something she realized as he'd changed back into his uniform in front of her without hesitation. He really did believe that feeling shame in front of someone like her was a waste of emotion and it really did seem like he believed he wasn't anything special when it came to the physical form. And even now, under all the stress it was surely going under after having killed his older brother, his mind was still trying to turn things to his advantage. She wanted to see more of her contractor's twisted mind. She hadn't been so interested in a mortal in decades.

She took the flash drive from his fingers and looked at it as she held all the information that Clovis had obtained on her during her incarceration.

"One last thing to spite that bastard Prince." She murmured in amusement before taking hold of the flash drive with both hands and snapping it in half causing small sparks to erupt before dying down and destroying years of research in a single instant. She threw the remains of the drive into the flames behind her accomplice and turned to him. "I think following you will be a very interesting experience." C.C. said with an enigmatic smile. He was going to be a very interesting contractor.

Lelouch gave out an amused huff as he picked up the case containing his armor, helmet, and the power sources for them inside. He kicked the other case into the blaze and took out his phone to see how close Sayoko was to their location.

He replied to her 'compliment' as he opened the GPS screen. "Thank you, and I get the feeling having you around is going to be a very unique experience." It was the truth. He wasn't usually interested in people, finding them usually very dull, although that really could just be the nature of any school, but C.C. intrigued him. He wondered if he'd ever know everything about her.

He gasped as he realized his phone was receiving Nunnally's GPS signal along with Sayoko's and they were transmitting from the Shinjuku Ghetto. "Oh no." He breathed in fear. He almost dropped the briefcase that contained his Zero Armor as he ran toward the source of the signal.

Luckily for him, the signal was transmitting nearby and he quickly found the source of the signal, causing him to sigh in relief as he rushed to his sister.

"Nunnally!" He shouted as he saw her by the car that Sayoko usually drove. Her hand was bleeding and she was sitting next to the driver side of the door which appeared to be pretty banged up. '_She must have tried to help Sayoko after they crashed and cut her hand._' He realized belatedly as dropped the case and he ran forward to scoop up his beloved little sister in a deep hug. He felt her return it with equal intensity as she burrowed her face into his chest.

"What are you doing here?" Lelouch asked worriedly as he searched her for any other injuries and he was relieved to find none. "I only called Sayoko," then he'd realized something, "besides, shouldn't you be in class?"

He felt her body shake as she let out a choked giggle and retorted, "Like your one to talk Lelou." He chuckled lightly. "I'm just so glad you're safe. Sayoko accidentally crashed into something and I can't wake her up. Can you please help me?" She asked worriedly.

Lelouch frowned as he learned that Sayoko was unconscious. He hoped he hadn't gotten her injured by asking her to come. "Sure thing Nunnally, but first there's someone who I'd like you to meet." He decided to clarify. "She saved my life earlier."

Lelouch then turned his head up and looked at the green haired woman that seemed to be looking at an empty space to his side. "C.C., come introduce yourself to Nunnally."

C.C.'s golden eyes blinked after she stopped staring into space and he was surprised to see her eyes soften from their usual look.

She always seemed to have a sharp look in her eye, like a predator observing its prey. But when her eyes turned to Nunnally, the sharp look softened a little bit.

She slowly walked toward the two siblings and, instead of reaching out her hand for Nunnally to shake like most people did before realizing she was blind, she reached out and took Nunnally's hand before squeezing it in greeting.

Her voice was even softer as she spoke to the crippled girl after letting go of her hand. "Hello girl, you may call me C.C.," her voice was surprisingly soothing when she spoke so softly. "And I hope that we can get along well."

Nunnally replied quietly as she yawned, clearly tired after trying to help Sayoko for who knows how long. "Hello miss C.C., thank you for saving my Big Brother. I know he can get into trouble a lot, so thank you for helping him."

She yawned again before asking C.C., "Can you help him wake up Sayoko? Lelou is hopeless when it comes to physical activities." She said cheekily. Lelouch huffed with a small smile on his face in false irritation as his immortal witch chuckled softly.

"Of course." C.C. agreed politely. "After all this Sayoko woman was coming to save me after your brother helped me escape from the soldiers after me. Helping her out is the least I can do."

Nunnally then gave the two of them a soft smile and her breathing evened out as she fell asleep.

Lelouch smiled at his little sister's sleeping form softly and laid her down gently on a clean space of the road before turning to C.C. and explaining his next plan to her. "I'm going to need your help to get Sayoko out of there." Now that he could get a better look at the car he could see that the handle that would normally be used to open the door was ruined. Still, he could open it if he was careful not to cut himself like Nunnally did.

As he carefully gripped the door, he pulled it and sighed in relief as he managed to open the door without causing any more damage.

He looked in and saw Sayoko's prone form. Lelouch felt a spike of worry as he saw his maid's unconscious body underneath the airbag. He quickly stood and turned to C.C., who had been looking over the damage done to the hood of the car. The damage appeared mostly superficial, but he still needed Sayoko to examine the engine and the car's other functions before he would trust it with their safety.

"C.C." Lelouch called quietly. He reached into his pocket and handed her one of the knives that Villetta had given him while she had been under his Geass. "Use this to deflate the airbag; I'll pop the hood to check the engine over." Hopefully the damage looked worse than it really was. He didn't want to have to carry Nunnally through a warzone again, that would bring back really uncomfortable memories. He also wanted to avoid doing anything to remind him of Suzaku for the moment.

After C.C. had taken out Sayoko's unconscious form and Lelouch popped the hood of the car open, the two of them heard groaning. Lelouch quickly moved to stand next to C.C. and the two accomplices looked around before they noticed it was Sayoko who was groaning, causing them both to internally sigh in relief that the military hadn't found their little impromptu hideaway. C.C. quickly returned Lelouch's knife to him before the maid could notice it and think that the witch was a threat. He pocketed the blade just as Sayoko's eyelids cracked open.

As Sayoko's eyes opened, she spoke in a disoriented tone of voice. "Wha-Who? Who're you?" She slurred slightly before shaking her head. She looked up at the woman holding her formerly prone form and spoke much clearer this time. "Who are you and what have you done with my charge?" She asked forcefully as she tried to move out of C.C.'s grip.

Lelouch quickly moved into her line of sight as he diffused the potentially hazardous, though for which woman he wasn't entirely sure, situation. "This is the woman I told you about on the phone Sayoko." He explained calmly. "Nunnally fell asleep after trying to help you by opening the door after you crashed."

Sayoko turned to face Lelouch as she saw him clearly and spoke more calmly this time, "Young master, I see." She then frowned as she stood up, balancing herself using the roof of the car, and said, "I apologize for my mistake. I should have paid more attention to the roads, instead of looking for the military." Still, the pothole she had crashed into had hardly seemed dangerous when compared to the military's Knightmare Frames. Especially considering the fact that the road was absolutely filled with them. She attempted to give a bow, but she was still too dizzy and she almost fell over before Lelouch caught her.

Lelouch simply gave a calming smile to the woman as he held her disoriented form. "It's okay Sayoko, no harm done. We can bandage Nunnally's hand once we get home." He didn't like it when Sayoko bowed to him, but he understood it was part of who she was.

Bowing in submission to someone in the Japanese culture had many different connotations depending on how deep the bow and sometimes even the type of bow used. But he didn't like having such a strong woman that he cared for bowing to him like she wasn't worthy of being his equal. He valued her greatly and he believed she never had any need to bow to him.

Besides, he knew that it wasn't Sayoko's fault Nunnally tried to help her out. He was hardly unreasonable when it came to things like that.

Lelouch let her go once she regained her balance and he walked to the hood of the car and asked her, "Do you think we can still use this one?" He couldn't have them drive in a totaled car after all.

Sayoko walked up beside him careful to keep her balance this time, C.C. maintained a respectful distance as she stared into space again.

"Yes I believe so," Sayoko replied after looking inside the hood. "It was mostly the violent motion of the crash and the hood being crushed inward that discharged the airbags. I doubt any serious damage has been done." She would have noticed if something was wrong and it seemed like the car was fine. Although the airbags would need to be fixed and reset and the door on the driver side would need to be fixed up, the damage was mostly cosmetic.

Lelouch sighed in relief. "That's good." He said simply. He quietly bent down and picked up Nunnally as he moved to the backseat of the car and opened the door.

"C.C., you can take the passenger seat," Lelouch said quietly as he maneuvered himself so he and Nunnally were sitting upright in the back seat with the briefcase containing his armor at his feet, "I will watch over Nunnally back here." He finished as he buckled the two of them in.

"Of course." The green haired witch said simply as she walked to her side of the car. It was hardly a problem for her to agree, besides the military was probably still after her.

Sayoko carefully shut her own door as she got in and began driving out of the Shinjuku Ghetto. Wary of any other potholes as they left and careful to avoid the military.

Once they were on the highway, Lelouch allowed himself to relax his tense body and stared out the window. It was hard to believe it had only been a few hours since he had fallen in with that terrorist truck. It seemed like it had been days. Still, he was glad to finally be out of that warzone. He held Nunnally's hand as she slept next to him and Sayoko drove them back to Ashford Academy.

* * *

(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Student Council Room – 7:37 am – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b)

As Lelouch caught up on his missed sleep, a shadowy figure armed with its favored weapon approached his still form.

"Wake up Lulu!" Milly shouted as she wacked Lelouch on his head with a rolled up piece of paperwork.

Lelouch grunted under Milly's 'assault'. "Hey, what was that for Madame President?" He asked softly.

He had spent most of the previous night studying the Zero helmet and he had finally figured out how to activate it and sync it with the Zero Armor. He also knew how to activate the D.O.M Hostia system now, but since there weren't any hostile Knightmare Frames nearby he had been unable to test it and see what it did. Unfortunately, his studying the Zero Armor had made it impossible for him to get any sleep, not that C.C. had made that any easier with her antics the previous night. So he was running on fumes after yesterday's misadventure.

Milly hmphed in annoyance at her Vice-President. "I know you were sleeping, your hand stopped moving." She explained.

"Well you don't have to beat me up over it do you?" He complained tiredly. "I had a long day yesterday. I think I'm entitled to some sleep."

Rivalz gave Lelouch a smirk and said, "I think it serves you right for ditching me like that yesterday." He was just happy he wasn't the target of Milly's anger this time.

Shirley turned to look at Lelouch out of the corner of her eye. "That's right," she said, "what was up with you yesterday? You didn't even pick up your phone when I called you."

Lelouch's eye twitched as he realized _Shirley_ of all people had almost gotten him killed. "I don't want to talk about it." The less he explained about Shinjuku to his friends, the better. The Britannian military would most likely be making a public announcement soon and he doubted his friends, other than Milly of course, would believe him if he mentioned having to escape from the military. They didn't really understand the true nature of Britannia, but he didn't blame them for their ignorance. Besides, he really didn't want to talk about it anyway. Yesterday was way too hectic to remember right now and he just wanted to rest today.

"That's enough you guys." Milly saved Lelouch the trouble of attempting to explain himself. "Let's not get sidetracked here. If we don't come up with a fix for the Club Activities Budget there won't be any money left for anything at all."

Lelouch's mouth twitched as he was tempted to bring up the fact that if it hadn't been for her impromptu Cross Dresser's Ball the previous week, they wouldn't need to balance the budget all over again. It was too early in the morning for him to deal with an annoyed Milly, especially after what happened the previous day.

Nina quickly spoke up as she was reading something over, "And if it comes to that point–"

"The Equestrian Club will be pissed. We don't want them coming in here on horseback to shake us down do we?" Rivalz finished her statement with a joke.

Although it certainly seemed less amusing once the members of the Student Council heard the whinnying of a horse right outside the window. They all looked out the window and saw the leader of the Equestrian Club shoot them all a warning glare before riding off.

The entire Student Council sighed in relief once he left their sight.

"Not cool Rivalz." Lelouch muttered. "You know the members of the Equestrian Club hate it if there are any mistakes when it comes to their budget."

"You know, Madame President it would have been nice if you reminded us about this a day ago." Shirley complained to Milly.

"Actually I'd rather it have been a day later." Rivalz jokingly commented. "Then we'd have given up."

Lelouch decided to go along with Rivalz's joke for fun. "Hey, good idea. We can still do that."

"I don't want to hear anything like that out of you mister." Milly said with a frown. "You're still in trouble after what happened yesterday."

Lelouch gave Milly a tired look. "Look, I really don't want to talk about it alright? I just wanted to help whoever was driving that truck. I had no idea I would end up stuck inside of it so it's hardly my fault–"

"GUTS!" Milly interrupted with her 'spell' and startling Lelouch into silence. Milly obviously wasn't going to take any excuse to have missed yesterday's informal meeting, no matter how valid it was.

Of course, it wasn't like Lelouch could explain that he'd led terrorists to a victory that had completely decimated the Britannian military so he had to give a bare bones explanation once Milly noticed the damaged car in the garage that morning.

"Are you trying that 'guts' spell again?" Rivalz asked as he pressed a hand against his ear after Milly's shout.

Milly placed her hands on the table that was covered in their paperwork. "Yep, I want you people to start putting your all into this." She said with a sly look. "That includes you mister slacker." She pointed at Lelouch.

Lelouch just sighed in resignation. "Yes Madame President." He said tiredly. It was just easier on what little sanity he had to go along with Milly most of the time. "Though, I don't really think your 'magic' is going to do a whole lot."

"Actually, it's got me going Madame President." Shirley chirped happily.

Ever the optimist Lelouch mused silently.

Milly suddenly got a gleam in her eye. '_Oh no._' Lelouch thought to himself as he mentally groaned. The last time he saw that gleam Milly had managed to force him into a dress for her Cross Dresser's Ball last week.

"Supple and willing." Milly crooned. "Now that's what I like."

Lelouch silently covered his face with his hand as he heard Shirley respond. "I train hard in the Gymnastics Club." She said as she pumped her fist.

'_Ever the naïve optimist._' Lelouch mentally corrected his earlier musing.

Milly's grin turned positively devilish as she replied. "That's not what I was getting at."

At Shirley's confusion Milly clarified, looking downright gleeful as she did so. "You're a ten. From what I've seen in the girls locker room anyway. You've been filling out in all the right places."

As Shirley covered her clothed chest in indignation, Lelouch let out a silent snort at Milly's teasing of Shirley. He found her much more amusing when he wasn't the target of her crazy antics. He returned his attention to the paperwork in front of him. The quicker he finished, the quicker Milly would stop bothering him until he had to fulfill his promise to Nunnally to take the two of them shopping.

* * *

(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Academy Hallways – 10:03 am – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b)

As Lelouch walked to his next class passed the Chairman's office he heard shouting. "I don't care that I'm missing class, I'm telling you I want to know where Nunnally is!" His eyes narrowed at the voice of the girl who was shouting at Ruben. He stopped and turned to enter the office of his guardian.

"And I'm telling you, young lady, that Nunnally is fine, but she needs her rest!" He heard Ruben shout back.

As he walked in Lelouch came upon something rather surprising. He could see the girl asking about Nunnally standing in front of one of the chairs placed in front of Ruben's desk. She had light blonde hair along with light auburn eyes. She was about an inch shorter than Nunnally's height had his sister been able to stand, dressed in Ashford Academy's middle school level girls uniform. Which made it all the more surprising to see this slip of a girl arguing with Ruben.

Whereas she was barely five feet two inches tall, Ruben Ashford was a positively enormous bear of a man. He was six feet and seven inches tall, with bright blue eyes glinting with all the genius and madness that came with being the inventor of the world's very first Knightmare Frame. On his head he had a full head of dark black hair with small stripes of gray showing his age along the edges of his hair above his ears. He was clean shaven and his enormous form was dressed in a dark black business suit that he usually preferred to wear when he was busy; meaning he probably had a meeting with someone today to discuss funding for his Academy.

There was no doubt in Lelouch's mind that this man was where Milly got all of her insane ideas from, if not from tales about the inventor's past then purely by virtue of genetics.

Lelouch's guardian gave him a small smile as he spoke to his charge. "Ah, Lelouch my boy." Even his voice was deep. "What brings you here?" He asked kindly. Another feature of the enormous man was his surprising gentleness towards Marianne's children.

Lelouch blinked before replying dryly, "You do realize I pass this room on my way to my next class right Ruben?" He sighed and explained why he walked into the room. "I heard you shouting and I got curious." He turned to look at the young girl who stood up to Ruben without flinching. That was an impressive feat since the man was almost two feet taller than her

He turned back to look at Ruben. "Why were you arguing with Alice?" He asked his guardian.

The man raised an eyebrow at Lelouch. "Oh, so you know this girl then Lelouch?"

Lelouch nodded. "Yeah, she's Nunnally's best friend and a junior member of the Student Council."

Ruben's other eyebrow raised at that. "Junior member? You have them?"

"Milly." Lelouch said simply, as though it explained everything. Which, as the three in the room knew, it pretty much did.

"Ah, yes." Ruben said fondly. "That _does_ sound like my granddaughter." The man then shook his head. "Anyway, I was unaware of her connection to Nunnally so I thought it best if I simply told her that the girl needed her rest." Ruben explained.

"Ah, I see." Lelouch realized the source of the argument then. He turned to look at Alice. "Nunnally isn't feeling all that well, so she's not going to be in class today." He explained to Nunnally's best friend.

Lelouch had originally planned to stay home and take care of Nunnally after their little misadventure in Shinjuku, but she scolded him saying he shouldn't miss anymore school after yesterday. Nunnally wasn't actually feeling too bad today, but she also didn't really want to deal with school for the moment, so Lelouch had Sayoko call in sick for her.

"Is Nunnally alright?" Alice asked quietly.

Lelouch replied, "Yes, she just needs to rest." That much at least was the truth.

The girl then turned to glare at Ruben before spinning on her heel to walk out the door before she left she turned her head and looked at Lelouch. "I'll be taking Nunnally's homework to her later then."

"That's fine Alice. Nunnally should be feeling better by this afternoon, so I'm sure she'd like it if you came to visit." Lelouch said politely. He was glad Nunnally had a friend like Alice to help her out with her disabilities since he couldn't be there for her all the time.

As the door shut, Ruben spoke, "So why did you really come in here Lelouch?" The man's countenance changed from accepting to stern in an instant.

Lelouch blinked as he realized that he had the perfect opportunity to use his Geass on Ruben, but– "I told you Ruben, I heard shouting and I got curious." He didn't want to use his Geass on his guardian who had been so kind and helpful to him and Nunnally. He didn't want to have that kind of power over the man who he owed his current life to.

Ruben blinked and laughed as he realized that Lelouch wasn't here for anything other than what he'd said. "Ah, I see." He said simply. "I must be getting paranoid in my old age." He joked before laughing deeply once again.

Lelouch chuckled quietly as he left Ruben laughing in his office. The man was always making cracks about his age when he didn't look a day over his higher thirties while he was, in reality, in his early sixties. It was one of his milder pranks, especially compared to the stories Lelouch had heard about the man's younger years.

Still, Lelouch was surprised that the man had noticed the opportunity Lelouch could have taken when Lelouch hadn't even realized it himself. Without even being aware of his Geass. Honestly the man's intuition was scary sometimes, but that is also what made him such a great inventor.

He silently walked the hallways to his next class when he heard one of his classmates mention Shinjuku and about how it was only thirty or so minutes away.

As Lelouch made his way into the classroom, he stepped up next to Shirley and asked, "What's going on with Shinjuku?" It was better to play clueless until he knew what the cover story was.

Shirley started in surprise. "Oh, Lulu." She calmed down. "The news just said that terrorists let out poison gas in Shinjuku." She turned back to the screen the news was on. "All those poor people." She said in sympathy. "Killed by people who said that they were fighting for them." She said that last part softly.

As soon as he saw the scene depicted on the news, showing a few Japanese corpses while making sure to move along the camera quickly to avoid anyone noticing the fatal gunshot wounds that would blow their cover story, an image flashed into his mind.

He saw himself standing in front of Clovis' throne with the Viceroy pleading for his life before a phrase rang out in his mind in his own voice tinged with madness. "Besides, you can't change the world without getting your hands dirty!" A gunshot rang out in his mind.

He shivered as he returned to the present. He hated seeing what he did during his episodes of madness, it always made him acutely aware about his own lack of true and stable sanity and it scared him. However, he hadn't killed anyone other than the soldiers under his madness before and they meant nothing to him. But Clovis, Clovis had once mattered to him, he had cared about Clovis, before he became the monster who would order a massacre of innocents to protect his own standing in the court. '_Oh God, I think I'm going to be sick._' Lelouch thought as he began to feel queasy.

He _still_ cared about Clovis; he still remembered his beloved older brother who he could easily beat at chess and his kind older brother who loved to paint Nunnally and Euphie in the Aries Villa's gardens. He needed to leave here and… Do something other than remember Shinjuku, anything.

"Lulu, are you okay?" Shirley asked him. "You're looking a bit pale."

Lelouch gave a shaky smile in return and replied, "Yeah, I'm not feeling so well right now. I'm gonna go, can you let the teacher know for me Shirley? I'm not sure how quickly I'll be back." He needed to leave, before he threw up in front of all these people. It wouldn't really be bad, just embarrassing.

Shirley gave Lelouch a small comforting smile. "Sure, no problem Lulu." She said kindly.

"Thanks Shirley." Lelouch whispered before he quickly made his way out of the classroom. He needed to clear his head. He decided to do what he normally did when he had the time and he needed to calm down. Besides, he could afford to miss a few minutes of class as long as he wasn't too late.

* * *

(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Academy Restroom – 10:19 am – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b)

Lelouch coughed as he threw up in the shower, the warm water washing his bile down the drain while it pounded down on his back in a soothing repetitive motion. He shivered despite the soothing temperature of the water, trying to regain control of himself and his racing mind. Only one thought in his mind was coherent, the rest undecipherable as he shivered and tried to prevent himself from puking again.

'_I killed Clovis. I killed Clovis. I killed Clovis._' His mind rambled as images from his life in the Aries Villa flashed into his mind, cruelly reminding him of the kind and loving brother whose life he snuffed out with a single gunshot.

Eventually, he managed to regain control over his shivering form, standing up and allowing the shower to pour water down onto his head as he calmed himself down by reminding himself about the Shinjuku Massacre. The kind and loving brother he knew would have never done that, and he used that thought, the knowledge that Clovis wasn't the same brother he once knew and loved; to calm himself down and rationalize that who he killed had been what Clovis had become, not who he once was.

He would remember how Clovis used to be and not how he had changed. But he would never forget what had become of his brother either, it would serve to remind him of the terrible influence of Britannia's ideals and how it could twist the some of the kindest people into monsters with its corrupt Social Darwinist regime.

He turned the shower off and stepped out to dry himself off. '_Britannia must be changed._' Lelouch thought. '_I don't care about how, but I know that if Britannia isn't changed or destroyed the entire world will suffer for it._'

His eyes hardened in determination as he put his Ashford uniform back on so he could get to class. '_I will not allow the entire world to suffer under Britannia's corrupt ideology._'

His left eye burned, as he reassured himself that his Geass was still able to work. '_And now, I have the tools to wage my war against Britannia in the form of the terrorists from Shinjuku, the Zero Armor, and my Geass._' He felt the burning in his eye stop as he deactivated his Geass, not wanting to accidentally use his Geass on a student.

He finished putting on his jacket and made his way to class, realizing the irony of having simple student preparing himself to go to war with his home country to protect the world. Normally, such a thing would be impossible, but there was hardly anything normal about Lelouch. He quietly made his way to his next class, glad that he wasn't late despite his impromptu shower he had taken to calm himself down.

"Kallen it's been ages!" Exclaimed one of Lelouch's female classmates.

Lelouch's eyes widened as he heard the name 'Kallen', making his mind flash back to when he was stuck in the terrorist truck.

"Kallen, why don't we use _it_ here?!" The voice of the dead driver echoed in his memory. "Because that would mean a bloodbath!" the voice of the red-headed terrorist echoed in back in his mind, causing the driver to concede with a sullen "You're right." and the door to the driver's side of the truck shut, making that the last Lelouch heard of the unfortunate man.

Lelouch blinked as he walked into the classroom, returning himself to the present to see a red-head who he knew was absent almost as much as himself and Rivalz. '_So that's why her name seemed so familiar._' Lelouch realized. '_Kallen Stadtfeld, sickly heiress by day, Japanese terrorist by night._' Lelouch thought it rather amusing to learn that he wasn't the only student who was sick of Britannia's ideology.

Then again, it could be a coincidence and it would be a big mistake to accuse the heiress of a noble family like the Stadtfelds of being a terrorist.

'_I suppose,_' Lelouch thought reluctantly, '_I could interrogate her with my Geass during lunch. I just need to make sure that I'm careful since I don't know all the specifics behind my Geass just yet._' C.C. had explained that every Geass was different, with different effects and powers, along with different weaknesses. The only thing that all true Geass had in common was that they all had something to do with the Geass user's greatest desire.

He still wasn't fully aware of the weaknesses of his Geass so he was somewhat reluctant to use it, especially since the only ones he used it on were either all dead or enslaved to his will, but he supposed he wouldn't really get a much better chance to test out his power than then, and it would even serve a purpose other than being a simple test.

As Lelouch went to sit in his seat, he had the misfortune of having stared at Kallen a bit too long. Catching Rivalz's notice.

"What's up buddy?" Rivalz asked with a smile. "See something you like?" He nudged Lelouch's shoulder. He his hand up to cover his mouth and whispered conspiratorially, "You got a thing for her don't ya?"

"Just thinking that this is a rare event." Lelouch replied quietly as Rivalz rested his elbow on his desk, which was behind Lelouch's, cradling his head as he stared dreamily at Kallen.

Lelouch looked at the possible terrorist from the corner of his eye. "She hasn't been here at school since this whole term started." Which would lend a lot of credibility to his theory if he could find out whether or not her sickly persona was an act or not.

"Kallen Stadtfeld," Rivalz spoke with a slightly airy tone. "They say she's sick or something, and she barely showed up at school last year either." Rivalz explained. "Still, her grades are at the top of the class," Rivalz gave Lelouch a small smirk, "rivaling you in both lack of attendance _and_ brains Lelouch."

Lelouch gave Rivalz a small smirk of his own as he retorted, "Wow, Rivalz, it sounds like you have a crush on her." Lelouch teased. "I wonder what Milly would have to say about that?" He said in false wonderment causing his friend to frantically wave his hands and whispered furiously at Lelouch, trying to dissuade him from telling the Student Council President anything about this conversation.

Lelouch simply laughed reassuringly as he explained he was only kidding and that he wouldn't tell Milly. Before Rivalz could get back at Lelouch for his joke, the teacher walked in making the rest of the class return to their seats as the break ended and all conversations ground to a halt.

Lelouch stared out the window as the teacher began to drone about the subject and he wondered what new revelations he'd have at lunch today.

* * *

(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Academy Courtyard – 11:47 am – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b)

Lelouch sighed, breathing in the fresh air, as he finally managed to leave the school building and enter the courtyard. He had forgotten that he still had to grade papers as punishment for missing class the previous day, but luckily his act to try and save the driver of the truck that crashed had allowed him to get away with a very minimal punishment since it was hardly his fault he fell in and missed the rest of the day. Instead, he was only punished for missing a half hour, instead of the three hours he ended up missing.

He found it strange that, even after having led a terrorist group to victory against Britannia, he still ended up punished for missing class. It just felt so odd to him. Still, he had at least a half hour or so left of his lunch break to meet with Kallen and interrogate her.

Suddenly, he heard screaming and he turned to see the source of the commotion.

"It's a bee! A bee!" One of Kallen's friends screamed.

"Run!" The girls quickly made their way as far from the little insect as they possibly could and Lelouch snorted in a small moment of Schadenfreude. Such a tiny little insect causing so much mayhem.

Still, as Lelouch saw Kallen run to a slightly more secluded place in the courtyard, he decided to take the opportunity presented to him. He silently made his way up behind her and witnessed her break her sickly façade for a split second as she sliced the bee in two with a karate chop, before quickly returning to her mask after taking a big bite her sandwich.

Lelouch kept his face impassive as she turned around and noticed him behind her. He saw her eyes widen in slight shock before she calmed down slightly and asked him a question. "Can I help you with something?" She asked with her mouth still slightly filled with her sandwich before she swallowed it.

Lelouch smiled disarmingly and activated his Geass. His smile turned slightly darker as he felt the now welcomed burning in his left eye. "**You will answer my questions.**" He ordered.

He noticed her body slacken slightly as he felt his Geass crush any will to resist his command. "Of course." She said in a stronger tone than she normally used. Contrasting interestingly with her slack body.

Lelouch also noticed something slightly different with his target this time. There were strange red rings around her eyes, most likely a symbol of her being under the control of his Geass. '_Interesting._' The places he used his Geass on people in the past were usually covered in shadows or he simply hadn't paid too much attention to his targets at the time, having different things on his mind, so he hadn't noticed the rings before. He wondered if he was the only one who could see them. He could find out later, right now, he needed to learn as much as he could from Kallen.

"**Were you the pilot of the Glasgow in Shinjuku?**" Lelouch asked.

"Yes." His target responded simply.

"**Why terrorism?**" Lelouch asked. He was curious about her response.

"Because I'm Japanese." She responded.

Before Lelouch could ask the question about _how_ she could consider herself Japanese when she looked exactly like a Britannian, she elaborated.

"Though technically I'm half-Britannian." She finished.

'_I see. A half-blood._' Lelouch thought. Her self-identity conflicted with the type of environment she lived in causing her to turn to terrorism to try and do something to change things.

"**But why go so far?**" He needed to know more about her reasons before he ended his Geass.

"Britannia murdered my big brother. He wasn't a terrorist, he was a freedom fighter and he was the one who led our group before Britannia killed him." She said, causing Lelouch no small amount of surprise at how vehement and detailed she was in her answer.

'_She must have loved her big brother very much and losing him must have pushed her to the edge._' Lelouch realized. '_If I don't give their group some direction, they're going to end up like the terrorists that were on the news yesterday, finding any loss of life acceptable if Britannians die in the exchange._' He was glad he'd found this group before they went off the deep end. They would make great first additions to his army in his war against Britannia.

"**Okay, I'm done.**" Lelouch mumbled absentmindedly. He saw Kallen blink and he noticed the red rings around her eyes disappear.

"Um, did you want something?" She asked in her meek, sickly voice.

"No, I'm fine." Lelouch answered as he turned away. He had a thought, though as he realized that he probably should make sure she didn't mention Shinjuku to anyone.

He decided to make sure to add that as one more order. "**Don't talk to anyone here about Shinjuku.**"

As Lelouch turned to walk away, he heard her shout. "Wait, what do you mean don't tell anyone about Shinjuku?"

Lelouch stopped and looked at her in shock. '_It didn't work?_' He hadn't felt the connection form, but just to be sure, he needed to double check.

He felt his left eye burn as he tried to order Kallen again. "**Go to class.**" He ordered.

Again, no connection. Lelouch frowned as he realized that he, most likely, could only use his Geass once on a person.

Kallen frowned in anger. "Not until you tell me–"

Their argument was interrupted by a voice from one of the second floor windows.

"Lulu, Kallen" Shirley shouted. "If you don't hurry you're going to be late to the Chem labs!"

Lelouch realized that his opportunity for escape wouldn't be open for long and so he reacted quickly. "Ah crap, that's right! It's my turn to set up for class!" He exclaimed in 'shock' as he ran away.

Hopefully, she would just pass it off as him being a concerned fellow student, but he doubted it. She couldn't be a terrorist without having a healthy level of paranoia. '_I need to think of something to deflect her suspicions from me, and I need to find out why my Geass didn't work._' Lelouch thought as he turned into a more secluded area of the grounds to take a small shortcut to the Chemistry labs.

He walked along a small bridge that led toward the labs and paused to look down at the small river underneath. He turned and looked at his reflection. He felt the burning in his eye as his Geass activated and he finally saw what it looked like. His normally dark violet left eye glowed a bright red and it had a small, slightly darker red sigil in the center of his eye. The sigil that looked like a bird in flight, almost identical to the sigil he'd seen carved into that stone in the vision shown to him by C.C. in Shinjuku. '_So that's what my Geass looks like._' Lelouch thought. At least now he knew he could still activate it, he quickly turned it off before he could accidentally use it on himself.

"Lelouch, what are you doing here?" A teacher asked from behind Lelouch.

'_Perfect._' Lelouch thought. '_Now I can test whether or not it can work twice on the same person if I don't maintain eye-contact after giving my first command._'

He quickly tested it out on the teacher, having him answer what this next exam's essay topics were going to be, before he deliberately severed eye contact and attempted to use his Geass on him again, only for it to not work.

Luckily though it seemed that the man had been unable to see the sigil glowing in his eye, reassuring Lelouch that, so long as he didn't run into a hostile Geass user, his secret was safe for now. He also realized that the fact that the man hadn't seen his eye glowing meant that the red rings that he'd seen around Kallen's iris were most likely only visible to him or another Geass user.

As the teacher left, Lelouch realized that the only differences between from when he used his Geass on Villetta and from when he used his Geass on Kallen was that he hadn't maintained perfect eye-contact with Kallen, while he _had_ maintained perfect eye-contact with Villetta for the duration of his Geass' usage on her and the different intents he'd had behind the virtually identical commands.

He realized that he got really lucky that he wasn't used to his Geass at the time or his intent and order would have been exactly the same just like they had been with Kallen. Instead of giving Villetta the command to 'answer his questions' with the intent of 'gaining the knowledge he desired' and gaining the perfect sleeper agent, he would have made a big mistake.

If he had given the same order to Villetta that he had given to Kallen, the order to 'answer his questions' with the intent of having her 'answer his questions to the best of her knowledge and ability', he would have had to kill Villetta and he would have never gained such valuable pawn.

His order, combined with his initial intent, while also phrasing the command with a question relevant to his intent, thereby following his own self-imposed limitation for her to 'answer his questions', had ended up forcing her to answer his question in the only way that would satisfy his initial intent, causing her will to become subsumed by his own.

'_Damn, I got extremely lucky when I was giving my commands to Villetta._' Lelouch thought to himself.

Still, now that he knew what had happened, he was that much more knowledgeable about his Geass, and that had been his side-goal for when he confronted Kallen, and he'd gained valuable information. '_Now all I need to do is figure out a way to have her lose her suspicions of me and all my current tasks will have been accomplished._' Lelouch thought as he made his way to the labs so he could set up for class as per his earlier act. He had to follow through with his act after all, or Kallen would be even more suspicious.

* * *

(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Academy Classroom – 3:02 pm – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b)

After the last class of the day ended, Lelouch walked up to Kallen's seat and spoke to her. "Hey, can you come with me?" He asked politely.

"Sure, I was wondering when you were going to ask." She responded irritably.

Lelouch winced slightly as he realized how that was going to sound. Still, it could have been worse. At least she was willing to follow him. This way he could explain himself with the excuse he had come up with during class.

He quickly guided her to the Student Council Clubhouse. The walk there was, thankfully, silent and Lelouch sighed as he walked into familiar territory.

Kallen looked around the room in wonder. "I didn't even know a room like this existed."

Lelouch decided to give her a small exposition. Though he wondered what the tables were in here for. Had he missed something in the morning meeting? Either way, he began explaining the room's history to Kallen. "It was originally meant as a ballroom for special events, but it really doesn't see much use other than when the Student Council uses it. It's usually where we come to balance the budget and relax after school is over." Lelouch smirked wryly. "Of course, most of Milly's crazy ideas come from this room too, mostly while the rest of us try to minimize the insanity to the best of our ability."

Kallen looked at him confusedly. "What do you mean crazy ideas?" She asked.

Lelouch gave out a suffering sigh as he realized that, since Kallen hadn't been in school for all that long, she likely had no idea of the terror that was an inspired Milly Ashford. "Yeah, some examples of Milly's crazy ideas," Lelouch shuddered slightly as he recalled last week. "Well, the most recent ones are the Cross Dresser's Ball, Swimsuit Only Days, and Absolute Silence Parties."

He gave the red-head a wry look. "You name it; Milly probably came up with it and completely perverted the idea to make it as insane as possible. The rest of us try to contain as much of the madness as we can, but we're hardly a match for her when she really gets going."

He shook his head as he realized he had gotten off track. "Anyway, unless the rest of the Student Council shows up we shouldn't be disturbed."

Her eyes sharpened at that. "We won't be disturbed here?"

Lelouch gave her a disarming smile and nodded. "Yup, now I bet you're wondering about what I meant about–"

"Here it is! I found it!" Lelouch heard Shirley shout and he turned to look up at the second floor of the room. He saw Shirley holding up a small microchip up in the air. "Look, this is it right?!" He couldn't see who she was talking to until Nina walked into view from further back on the balcony.

As soon as Nina got a good look at the microchip in Shirley's hand she sighed in relief. "What a relief, you found our lab data." She said with a small smile.

Rivalz groaned as he stood up from his own position on the floor that had caused Lelouch to miss him in his cursory sweep of the room along with Shirley and Nina. "Good, my ass is killing me." He groaned again as he rubbed his lower back and stretched.

Suddenly a the sound of the automatic doors opening drew Kallen and Lelouch's attention and he saw Milly walk into the room wearing an apron over her school uniform while she pushed in a trolley covered in dishes that had their contents hidden by the silver covers for them. She looked up to the second floor and spoke loudly so the other members of the Student Council could hear her. "Were you able to find it?" At their nod in confirmation she simply breathed a small, almost unnoticeable sigh of relief. "I finished up on my end," she chirped with a smile, "shall we dig in?"

Rivalz gasped in awe at the spread that Milly had cooked up so quickly, likely not understanding that Milly had probably gotten Sayoko's assistance. "Oh, wow!" he said with a huge grin as he imagined eating the delicious food.

"Way to go Milly!" Shirley cheered as she clapped her hands once in celebration.

Milly simply gave out a charming giggle. "You adore me, I know." She said with deliberate false modesty as she set out the food on the tables.

Lelouch felt his irritation build up as he realized that his conversation with Kallen had been interrupted. He would need to find another opportunity to give her his excuse as to why he would bring up Shinjuku. Still, he couldn't afford to look too upset. He needed to remain calm; an opportunity would present itself eventually. He knew that Kallen had the sense to not bring up what they were discussing in front of the others, not if she was still suspicious as to what he knew about her. The last thing she wanted, he assumed logically, was to be ousted as a terrorist. He could trust her to stay silent on the matter for the moment. Now, all he needed to do was figure out what the heck was going on. "Um, what is all of this?" He asked in his usual soft tenor.

Milly gave him a questioning look. "Lelouch, don't you know?" She asked. "I thought that's why you brought her. We're inducting Kallen into the Student Council."

Kallen let out a confused, "Huh?"

Milly turned her attention to her newest minion… err, her newest subordinate. Right, that's it. She answered the red-head's question, hoping to cover up her less than noble thought. "It was my grandfather's idea, actually." She turned her attention back to setting up the tables. She couldn't celebrate if everything wasn't properly set up after all.

Lelouch blinked in slight surprise. "Ruben?" His eyes widened slightly as he realized the man's line of thinking. It actually made a lot of sense. "Oh, I see now."

Milly nodded as she caught on to Lelouch's train of thought. "Yep," she chirped, "he thought it best because Kallen's poor health would make it difficult for her to participate in other Club Activities."

Lelouch interrupted Milly as he finished his line of thought out loud. "And since it recently became a rule that all students have to participate in a Club, Ruben suggested that Kallen be allowed into the Student Council so she wouldn't have too many complications with her feeble health." Hopefully this would slightly alleviate Kallen's worries that he knew of her extracurricular activities. If he didn't reveal them, while also playing along with her sickly façade, her suspicions may end up dissipating. Or at the very least would end up becoming weaker.

Milly nodded happily, not annoyed in the least that Lelouch finished her sentence. He tended to do that from time to time. She realized that she hadn't introduced herself to her the newest member and decided to rectify that since Lelouch had finished for her. "By the way, I'm Milly, the President of the Student Council." She said kindly as she finished setting up the tables and turned to Kallen and Lelouch.

Kallen looked at Lelouch incredulously. This nice young woman was the one that Lelouch had said was the source of all the crazy events at Ashford Academy? She just couldn't see it. Milly was just so _nice_.

Lelouch saw Kallen look at him dubiously out of the corner of his eye. He almost sighed, if she did end up on the Student Council she would learn about Milly's craziness soon enough. Like all Clubs Kallen did have the chance to refuse membership, but it wasn't the best idea if she wanted to keep out of trouble and maintain her cover as a sickly student.

Kallen decided to exercise this right, feeling that joining a Club might cut into her activities. "Me?" She asked softly with a small, and Lelouch noticed, faked cough. "Thank you for the offer, but I don't think I'm suited for any kind of Club."

Lelouch almost frowned. He needed to be able to keep an eye on her, at least until he could be sure that she no longer suspected him of being K-1. He decided to sweeten the deal for the secret half-blood.

"You know," he said conversationally, "this is a really good offer." He gave the young red-headed woman a small look out of the corner of his eye. "Most students don't ever get the chance to get on the Student Council, despite many wanting to for varying reasons, because of the consistency that needs to be maintained when it comes to their grades."

He turned his head and gave her a slightly sheepish look, acting as though he were embarrassed at what he was about to say. "This is actually pretty good since the members of the Student Council have access to areas of Ashford Academy that even most of the faculty don't have access to. The only one with more access is Ruben and he's the Chairman." That should get Kallen to accept the invitation. He knew it was an opportunity that she couldn't pass up.

The secret terrorist reacted exactly as Lelouch expected. "Oh, I see." She spoke in a slightly shocked voice. She then turned to Milly. "Thank you," Kallen said quietly as she gave small nod of thanks. "The pleasure's all mine."

Nina, Shirley, and Rivalz had come down from the second floor during Milly and Lelouch's explanation and began introducing themselves to Kallen, hoping to make her feel welcome.

Rivalz decided to go first. "I'm Rivalz Cardemonde, the Secretary. If there's anything you need help with, I'm your man." He said with a smile and placed his hand on his chest to emphasize his statement.

Shirley went after Rivalz finished. "I'm Shirley Fenette." She gestured to herself with her hand on the collar of her uniform. "And I'm a member of the Swim Club. Welcome to the Student Council, I hope that we can become good friends."

Nina went after Shirley, although she was much quieter in her introduction due to her inherent shyness. "Hi, I'm Nina Einstein." She said quietly as she fidgeted in place.

Kallen looked at her fellow Student Council Members and responded quietly, "It's nice to meet all of you."

Suddenly, the sound of a motorized wheelchair echoed through the large room. "Hey Shirley." Nunnally called out as she rolled into the room with Alice walking beside her carrying two trays of cupcakes between them. "Can you give me a hand with these cupcakes please?"

"Oh, sure thing Nunna." Shirley replied as she walked up to the two junior council members and picked up the tray Nunnally was carrying and placed it on the table where Milly had placed the rest of the food.

Lelouch smiled as he saw his beloved little sister enter the room. He quickly walked up to her and grabbed her non-injured hand to squeeze it. "Nunnally, I'm so glad you're feeling better." He said making sure to maintain the story that she was out today because she was sick. After all, he had only promised to never lie _to_ her, not in front of her to other people.

Alice set down her own cupcakes next to Nunnally's as she said, "Yeah, when I came over to drop off her homework she told me that all she needed was a little rest after yesterday." She gave a fierce look to Lelouch. "What, exactly, happened yesterday that ended up hurting Nunnally?" She asked protectively.

Lelouch sighed grabbed his sister's other hand and rubbed his thumb over Nunnally's bandages. "I got stranded somewhere and when I called Sayoko to come and get me; Nunnally had already been taken home by then. So my _loving_ sister insisted on coming, no matter what Sayoko said." He said as he squeezed Nunnally's non-injured hand to let her know he was only teasing her a little bit with his last statement.

"Sayoko ended up crashing and Nunnally got out to try and open the door to help her out of the car since I wasn't nearby at the time." He brought up her injured hand to give it a small kiss on her injured palm, heedless of his audience and Nunnally continued his explanation for him.

He had explained to Nunnally, after they got home, that they shouldn't mention that where they got stranded was Shinjuku or their knowledge of C.C. since the military was after her and she had agreed, recognizing the danger of admitting that they were there after what the military had done there and not wanting to hurt C.C. after all the trouble Lelouch had gone through to save her. He trusted her easily enough to not let anything damning slip out.

"Luckily, Big Brother was able to help me get her out when he arrived, but not before I cut my hand on the door when I tried to open it." She finished, turning her face up to her brother even though her eyes were closed and smiled an innocent smile that Lelouch recognized all too well. "Besides, I wasn't going to let Lelouch get out of his promise to take Milly and I shopping today since he kept everyone waiting yesterday at lunch."

Lelouch laughed a little bit and quickly reassured his little sister. "Don't worry," he said with an amused tone of voice, "I haven't forgotten my punishment dear sister." The two siblings laughed while Alice calmed herself down, realizing that nothing too bad had happened to Nunnally. Eventually, the young girl joined in with her best friend and her Vice-President, giggling quietly at Lelouch's future punishment.

While Lelouch explained himself to Alice, Milly decided to enlighten their newest member about Nunnally and Alice. She walked up to the sickly girl and turned to look at the younger girls. She smiled slightly as she saw Lelouch kiss Nunnally's injured hand. "The girl interrogating our Vice-President is Alice," Milly started her explanation. "And the girl in the wheelchair is Lelouch's little sister, Nunnally Lamperouge." She smirked. "The two of them may only be in the middle school level, making them only junior members of the Student Council, but they're a big help around here." Milly's gaze softened as she heard Lelouch laugh at something Nunnally said. Lelouch almost never laughed, but he always made an exception for Nunnally since she couldn't see him smile anymore.

"What happened to her?" Kallen asked softly. She may not have liked Britannians, but seeing a young girl like Nunnally, who was so obviously loved very much by her older brother, crippled and blind; it made her remember her own older brother. It brought back some painful memories for her, seeing the love that the two siblings held for each other. She couldn't bring herself to hate the young girl like she hated other Britannians, especially when she clearly had so many other problems.

Milly simply gave a small sad smile to Kallen. "It's not my place to tell you, but I don't think it'd be a good idea to ask Lelouch until you know him better." She cautioned the red-head. "It's not something he likes to talk about." She herself had only learned about it from her grandfather when she had confronted him after Lelouch and Nunnally arrived after the 'occupation' of Japan. Lelouch hadn't spoken much when he'd first arrived and so she had to get the story from a secondhand source. After learning about what happened to the little girl who she had spent so much time with in the Aries Villa, she had promised Lelouch that she would do everything she could to help him out even though she was only ten at the time. It was something that the 'dead' Prince had greatly appreciated.

"Okay," Kallen agreed simply. She knew about how hard it could be to talk about a painful past event, so she had no problem believing that Lelouch wouldn't want to talk about it. She found herself hoping that Lelouch wasn't the voice who called himself K-1 in Shinjuku the previous day, if only so he could stay safe and take care of his little sister. Still, she owed it to Ohgi and the rest of their group to find out for sure.

Lelouch walked behind Nunnally's wheelchair and began pushing it toward the newest member of the Student Council. "Here, let me take you to greet our newest member." Alice walked up to his right side and followed him as he pushed Nunnally's wheelchair forward. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, he internally sighed in relief when he noticed that she was no longer glaring at him. He liked how protective of Nunnally she was, but he still felt mildly insulted that she thought he would deliberately do anything to harm his beloved little sister. He turned his attention back to Kallen as he pushed Nunnally closer to the red-head.

Nunnally turned her head up to face the newest member of the Council. "It's a pleasure to meet you Kallen," Nunnally said with a kind smile. "I hope we can become good friends." She held up her hand in front of her for Kallen to take.

Kallen gave her own kind smile towards the younger girl and took the offered hand, squeezing it slightly before letting go and responding. "It's nice to meet you too Nunnally." She said softly. Kallen was glad that the young girl had so many kind people to help take care of her. This was one Britannian who she doubted anyone could ever hate if they met her. She was just so kind and polite.

"Now that the introductions are out of the way, let's celebrate!" Rivalz shouted as he pulled out a champagne bottle from underneath a table. He had managed to smuggle it in earlier in the day during the lunch break.

As he was waving the bottle around in the air, Shirley moved to take the bottle from him quickly as she shouted, "Oh no you don't! We're underage, we can't have alcohol!" Rivalz ran away from Shirley as he tried to protest, but the orange haired girl cut him off before he could say anything. "Besides, we're on the Student Council; we're supposed to set an example for the rest of the school to follow! We can't drink!" She shouted as she finally caught up to Rivalz. She reached up as Rivalz tried to hold it out of her reach, but since they were of similar height he wouldn't be able to keep it from her for long.

Realizing that he wouldn't be able to keep the bottle from Shirley much longer, Rivalz decided to get rid of it. "Hey, Lelouch!" He shouted as he tossed the bottle across the room to his best friend. "Catch!"

Lelouch and Alice had quickly moved Nunnally's wheelchair out of the way as soon as Shirley started chasing Rivalz, just in case either of the two ended up running their way. Lelouch had made his way toward the two troublemakers after leaving Alice to keep his little sister out of the way. He wasn't prepared for the champagne bottle to come spinning through the air at him though. He caught the bottle on reflex and he was quickly tackled to the ground by Shirley as she shouted, "Oh no you don't Lulu!" accidentally dislodging the cork from the bottle.

After having been shaken up so much, the bottle couldn't take it anymore and the cork popped off, flying toward Kallen. Since no one was looking at her closely, she quickly swatted the cork out of the air before it could hit her. Unfortunately, she was unable to dodge the spray of champagne that erupted from the neck of the bottle and ended up getting soaked in the alcoholic drink. She stood there dripping as the liquid soaked into her clothes, extremely thankful that the layers of clothing that made up the Ashford Academy uniform were thick enough to prevent her from giving everyone in the room a show. Still, she couldn't help the embarrassed blush that rushed to her cheeks as she gave Rivalz a glare that most definitely didn't fit her sickly personality. However, she knew no one would be particularly suspicious of it, considering it had been his fault she got soaked. Barring Lelouch if he truly was K-1.

"Uh, Shirley," Lelouch muttered as he looked at the orange haired girl on top of him. "Could you please get off me?" When Shirley had tackled him to the ground, they had ended up in a rather suggestive position. '_God, I hope Milly doesn't have a camera right now._' Lelouch thought to himself as he saw a blush erupt on Shirley's cheeks.

Shirley quickly pushed herself up as she sputtered incoherent apologies while blushing furiously. "Oh my- I'm so sorry Lulu. I didn't mean to-"

Lelouch just gave Shirley a small smile as he stood up and interrupted the girl's unnecessary apology. "It's fine Shirley, it was only an accident after all." Shirley went silent after that, simply blushing deeply while she glared at Rivalz in much the same way as Kallen.

Milly just sighed as she realized that they couldn't have the celebration with Kallen until she was cleaned up. "Sorry about that Kallen." Milly apologized. "Here, let's get you cleaned up." She then quickly led the sickly girl out of the room by the hand with Shirley following, offering to help out since it was partly her fault that Kallen got soaked.

Lelouch noticed that he had a perfect opportunity to speak to Kallen alone if he could play this right. As the three girls left Lelouch spoke to the remaining members of the Council. "I'll go get her some of my clothes since Kallen and I are pretty close to the same height." He said as he walked out. Before he left the room completely, he turned to look at Alice and Nina who had managed to stay out of the way with Nunnally. "Alice, Nina," He called. "Could the two of you make sure Rivalz doesn't have any more champagne in here?" He laughed lightly as he heard his friend protest in indignation. "I don't think that Shirley and Kallen would be amused." His laugh echoed as he left the room and quickly made his way down the hallway toward his room. Since Kallen would need to take a shower to clean herself off completely, he would have the perfect opportunity to be alone with her so he could give her his prepared excuse. Of course, he'd still need to do something to eliminate her suspicions of him. He thought of a few ideas he could use on his way to his bedroom to get some clothes for the red-head.

* * *

(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Lelouch's Room – 3:16 pm – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b)

Lelouch rifled through his closet, ignoring C.C.'s laughter that had erupted after he explained the current situation. He quickly picked out some clothes that he believed Kallen would find acceptable before noticing a small recording device on the floor of his closet. His eyes widened as a plan came together in his mind. Though he wondered if he could he count on C.C. to listen to him. As soon as C.C.'s laughter died down, he popped open the briefcase that contained his Zero Armor and placed the helmet on. As soon as the helmet closed itself over his head, he spoke into the recording device with the voice modulator distorting his voice. Once he finished recording his message he turned to his accomplice and removed his helmet, placing it back into the case which he quickly closed as he spoke to her. "C.C., will you assist me with something?" He wasn't all that sure what the enigmatic witch would do, but he doubted she wanted him exposed.

The golden eyed woman gave her newest contractor an amused look as she mentally debated on whether or not to help him avoid exposure. On one hand, seeing him exposed to this 'Kallen' could be amusing to her, but on the other it may not be beneficial to him in the long run which would make it not beneficial to her in the long run. She decided, on a whim and since he had told her of the amusing events that had taken place earlier, that she would do as he asked, for now. "That depends," She said with laughter still coloring her voice. "What would you like me to do?"

Lelouch internally sighed with relief as he looked at his witch. "In five minutes, I need you to play this voice recording over the phone." He quickly grabbed a small notepad and finished explaining what he needed her to do. "Make sure you call this number in five minutes and when you hear a voice other than mine, play the recording. Hang up as soon as the recording finishes." He handed her the note and placed the recording next to the phone in his room. He then turned to the pile of clothes he had arranged for Kallen and picked them up as he walked out of his room. He made his way to the bathroom with a shower nearest to the ballroom and sighed in relief as he made his way down the hallway. As soon as that recording played, he would have accomplished all of his current goals.

* * *

(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Academy Restroom – 3:19 pm – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b)

Lelouch knocked on the door to the bathroom where he heard water running. "It's Lelouch." He spoke clearly so she could hear him over the running water. "I brought you a change of clothes." He explained.

A muffled voice echoed from beyond the wooden door. "You can come in, I've drawn the curtain already."

He pressed the button to slide open the door and walked in. He was briefly taken aback as he saw Kallen's shadowy outline thanks to the light inside the shower. His passing observation inside that truck had been spot on, she really was beautiful. Even with just a shadowy outline, he could tell that much. He quickly regained his bearings. "Sorry about all of this." He apologized as he walked in causing the automatic door to close behind him. "I know that they can be a little over the top."

"That's okay." She responded politely. "Nothing wrong with cutting loose every once and a while you know?" She joked.

Lelouch gave out small laugh as he responded while he put his clothes in a small basket. "That's true. I brought you some of my clothes, I hope that's okay."

"It's cool, don't worry about it." She responded easily enough. "That was pretty quick," she observed. "You went all the way to the boy's dorm?"

Lelouch's tone turned more solemn as he responded to her inquiry. "Actually, I live here." He explained. "It'd be pretty hard for my little sister to live off in the dorms." He leaned back against the small bathroom sink. "The Chairman lets us stay here as a favor."

"I see." Kallen responded sympathetically.

Lelouch turned to leave as he responded, hoping that Kallen would take the bait. C.C. would be calling soon. "Anyway–"

He was cut off as Kallen shouted, "Hey, wait!"

Lelouch smirked before schooling his features and turning around. "Yes?" He asked calmly.

She reached her hand out from behind the shower curtain. "Can you hand me that pouch over there?" She asked softly.

Lelouch turned to where she was pointing and he noticed a small pink pouch on the sink's counter. "Oh sure, no problem." He said back politely.

He grabbed the pouch and made to hand it to Kallen, making sure to clearly avert his eyes so she could maintain her privacy. As soon as his hand passed the shower's threshold, she grabbed his wrist tightly and ended up making him drop the small pouch causing a small splash. His eyes widened slightly in shock and he grunted quietly in surprise. "You really are a livewire aren't you?" He commented breezily, as though being held hostage by naked women in the shower were a regular occurrence for him.

Though, it hadn't been the first time this had happened. Milly had done stranger things to him when he was younger so he wasn't all that phased.

"What did you mean when you told me to not say anything about Shinjuku?" She asked him as her grip on his wrist tightened.

Lelouch believed that she was trying to get a read on his pulse so she could tell if he lied to her or not. Unfortunately for her, Lelouch was a master of deception and he purposefully kept his heart beating quickly to feign surprise after Kallen had grabbed his wrist. All he needed to do to trick his heart was to think about many different things that had caused him surprise in the past while making sure to stay aware of his current conversation, something that was very simple for his talented mind.

"Oh, that." Lelouch responded sheepishly. "Well you see–" The sound of the phone ringing cut him off. He turned slightly and looked at Kallen out of the corner of his eye, making sure to keep his gaze from roaming. "I'll answer your question after I answer the phone." He gave a disarming smile to the red-headed terrorist. "After all, if someone doesn't answer someone will come in here." She let go of his wrist and he picked up the phone before put it to his ear.

Kallen wondered what the dark haired Britannian was playing at. He was so… aloof. She wondered if he really was K-1 and what she should do if that were the case. Her eyes widened slightly as he handed her the phone.

Lelouch played his part perfectly as he held out the phone for Kallen to take. "He says he wants to talk to you. He says he knows you."

Kallen narrowed her eyes as she took the phone. "Hello?"

A deep voice responded to her query. "Glad to see your still alive, Q-1."

Her eyes widened in shock as she stared at Lelouch who was still averting his eyes to give her privacy.

"Come to the observation deck on Tokyo Tower, alone, in two days at 1600 hours." The phone on the other end then quickly clicked off.

"Wait a minute!" Kallen shouted futilely, accidentally yanking the shower curtain wide open with the phone cord. "Just who are–" She was cut off from shouting into the phone by Lelouch's cough. She glared at him and gripped the phone tightly. "What?" She growled caustically.

Lelouch had covered his eyes with his left hand and pointed in her direction with his right. "Um, you accidentally pulled open the shower curtain. Just thought you'd like to know." He laughed nervously.

Kallen gasped and quickly pulled the curtain closed. She knelt down on the tub's floor and covered her chest. "Oh God, I'm so embarrassed." She complained like the schoolgirl she was. For once, she wasn't acting. "Could you please not tell anyone about this?" She asked. "I don't think I'd ever live it down."

Lelouch gave a small, nervous laugh as he responded. "Oh sure, no problem. My lips are sealed." To be honest, he really didn't want this getting out either. Milly's teasing would be merciless.

Kallen was surprised at how gentlemanly he was being about this. Most guys she knew, even her friends in their resistance cell, would have likely chopped their own arms off with a blunt saw to get a good look at her naked. She knew she was beautiful and she appreciated Lelouch's discretion. She hoped that she'd get to know him a little bit better. Despite being a Britannian, he wasn't so bad. Now if only she could get her damn blush to go away.

Lelouch coughed and he decided to get back on track before he lost the opportunity. "Anyway, the reason I mentioned Shinjuku is because some of the guys around here might try and show you some of the images on the news from there." He shuddered lightly as fragmented images of what happened in real-time flashed through his vision. "The images are pretty grisly and with your weak constitution I didn't think you'd appreciate seeing them." He decided to explain a little bit better. "I threw up earlier after I saw some of the images on the news and I thought it'd be a good thing to warn you." Hopefully, if he ever had his identity exposed before her she would be able to remember this moment and realize that, while he was a Britannian, he didn't approve of what happened in the Shinjuku Ghetto.

"Oh I see." Kallen replied, still huddled on the floor of the shower. She had managed to get her blush under control and she now felt slightly foolish at the thought of believing Lelouch had been K-1.

"Anyway, I'll leave you to finish your shower in peace. Sorry for disturbing you." He quietly made his way out of the bathroom and made his way toward the ballroom. Soon, he would have to fulfill his promise to Nunnally and take both her and Milly shopping. He sighed resignedly as he made his way throughout the hallway. The things he did for his beloved little sister.

* * *

(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Jewelry Shop – 5:23 pm – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b)

After Kallen had gotten cleaned up, the rest of her induction party went off perfectly. Eventually though, like all good things it came to an end once the participants needed to get to their dorm rooms or their homes so they could work on their homework for the night. Of course, that only applied to the ones who didn't have anything to do after the party.

Earlier in the afternoon Milly had taken him to a lingerie shop in her attempts to fluster and torment him, much to Nunnally's amusement. She had personally modeled some of the less risqué materials for him, but it was still fairly embarrassing for Lelouch.

After that she had dragged them into a dress shop and ended up tormenting him much less once Nunnally started asking about some of the dresses. At least for a little while. The two of them had a fun time describing the dresses to Nunnally and his little sister had ended up picking out a few for herself. Both Milly and Lelouch helped Nunnally pick out dresses that they knew the younger girl would like and, once they passed Nunnally's inspection on how they felt to her, they ended up getting a few for the younger Lamperouge.

Of course, once they finished that part of the shopping trip, Milly resumed her torment of Lelouch. She had continued with her earlier fashion 'show' for the Vice-President, by modeling mini-dresses in many different colors and other kinds of dresses. The older blonde woman had taken a fascination with dresses that had a plunging neckline, much to Lelouch's embarrassment and other male shoppers envy. Once again, this was to Nunnally's great amusement as she had Lelouch describe Milly's dress to her just like she did with Milly's lingerie modeling.

Lelouch made himself a silent promise that, from now on, he would do his absolute best to make sure he _never_ arrived to one of Milly's informal meetings late ever again because of his gambling. He didn't think he could take another day of mixed signals from the young woman.

Milly was a very confusing person for Lelouch. One moment, she could be a kind and understanding older sister, the next she was flirting with him and offering to take him out on pseudo dates. It didn't exactly help that he couldn't decide what he really felt for her either. His own psychological issues made deciphering his own emotions difficult for him without any of Milly's antics.

"Lelouch, what do you think?" Milly's voice rang out from behind him as he was looking over sapphire jewelry, drawing him back from his memories of the past afternoon.

The young Prince in hiding turned around. His eyes widened as he took in Milly's form.

The eighteen year old blonde had decided to wear one of the many dresses she had bought after she finished modeling them for Lelouch's torment. At the moment, she was currently wearing a light violet dress, covered in light silver glitter to enhance the dresses beauty, which went down to her shins. It had a slit on the sides going up to slightly above her knees to allow for proper movement though, so Milly wasn't in any danger of tripping. The light violet color of the dress really brought out Milly's dark blue eyes, which had sparkled mischievously after Lelouch had absentmindedly described the dress to Nunnally while he was in shock after she modeled it.

Thankfully, the neckline on this particular dress wasn't plunging, though it did show off a fair amount of her cleavage, causing many a male to do double takes as they walked down the street before Lelouch glared them off. The only thing that prevented their outing from looking like a date was the presence of Nunnally. That and the fact that Lelouch was severely underdressed compared to Milly, with his simple jeans and black turtleneck combination. He had on a brown jacket so he could weather the brisk autumn air and his arms were full carrying the many purchases of Milly and Nunnally. Thankfully, his arms hadn't started burning yet since dresses and underwear didn't weigh all that much, but he hoped they took a break soon so he could rest.

Regardless, what Milly was currently holding up to her neck was what held Lelouch's attention. It was a beautiful platinum necklace with a small aquamarine heart in the center of the silver chain. It was simple, elegant, and it was perfect for Milly.

"Wow, Milly." Lelouch said in slight shock. He was extremely thankful for his nigh perfect self-control, or his face would have been a perpetual shade of red throughout this entire outing. "That necklace really suits you." He said honestly. He may not have understood what he felt towards Milly, but he knew that he cared deeply for her and he, at the very least, loved her like family. He just wasn't sure if he loved her more than that or not.

"Aw, thanks Lelouch." Milly said flirtatiously with a wink. "I was thinking about getting it, I hope you don't mind." She walked off to another part of the store, satisfied with Lelouch's response.

Lelouch simply sighed in resignation with a small, tired smile as he nodded before Milly walked off to continue to put a dent in his winnings with a smile. As promised, he was using the extra money he had obtained from that nobleman to fund this trip. Fortunately, despite modeling so many clothes, Milly hadn't put too much of a dent into his winnings since she hadn't bought all of them. It pretty much went without saying that the dresses Nunnally had gotten barely scratched the surface of the three hundred thousand pounds he had won.

He turned his attention back to the sapphire jewelry and noticed a small sign he had missed in his cursory inspection earlier. "Hey," Lelouch called to the clerk who was serving a man searching for a ring to propose with. As soon as the clerk detailed the list of rings the man could choose from, she quickly made his way toward him.

"Yes, how may I help you?" The brunette asked politely. She was relatively pretty, but compared to Milly she was average. She was dressed in the shop's uniform.

Lelouch directed her attention to what had caught his attention. "Yes, I was wondering do you do engravings in Braille?" He asked the clerk. Nunnally's birthday was next month and he didn't know how long the pendant he noticed would be there.

It was a relatively large pendant, compared to the usual size of one at least, in the shape of a heart attached to a slightly thick silver chain so it could be worn around the wearer's neck. The size of the heart had enough space allowed for a message to be engraved.

Blue had always been one of Nunnally's favorite colors and, although she was unable to see it, he always made sure to use as much blue as he could for her parties. He always made sure to have different shades of blue along with other colors to accent the main one though since a single color would be stagnate and boring.

The clerk gave a thoughtful look to Lelouch and responded politely. "I'm not sure; I'll have to ask my manager." When she noticed Lelouch's intense look, she reassured him. "I'm sure it wouldn't be too much trouble as long as you can write the message in Braille. As long as we have a template and it isn't too large or complicated we can have almost anything engraved into our jewelry." She gave a smile and jubilantly boasted, "It's what makes Drake's Jewelers one of Britannia's best jewelry shops!"

Lelouch ignored the bubbly clerk and just gave an indulgent smile and asked the clerk politely, "Can you please check with your manager then?" He hoped he could set up his order for the pendant before Milly and Nunnally noticed where he was. He wanted to surprise Nunnally with this present and he didn't want to deal with Milly's teasing at the moment.

Lelouch quickly wrapped up his meeting with the manager after he met the man. He was glad that he hadn't had to use his Geass on the man for such petty reason, and now all he needed to do was wait three weeks until the pendant could be properly engraved.

He had written out the message he wanted engraved in Nunnally's gift with ease, since he had learned Braille with her when they had first moved to Japan along with Suzaku. He used a pen to very clearly mark out the letters of the language of the blind to make sure that the manager didn't mess up the design. He didn't want anyone to understand the message other than Nunnally, and since he knew that Drake's Jewelers didn't employ Honorary Britannians or Numbers, not out of prejudice, but out of reasonable business sense since many Britannians wouldn't buy anything from those 'lesser' than them, he wrote the message using Japanese words. Albeit, the words were written in English letters instead of Japanese kanji or katakana, but that was merely a technicality since Braille didn't really have any real differences between which languages it was used with. At least, none that Lelouch had learned.

Since Braille engravings were different from the norm, the shop that normally did the engravings needed to purchase a unique tool that would engrave the dot-like patterns that made up the written language. Also, since the shop in the Tokyo Settlement didn't have the tools necessary for such a project, the pendant would need to be sent to one of their shops in a different sector of Area Eleven so the engraving could be done properly. The schedule was one week to get to the other shop, one week to make sure the engravings were done properly, and one week to return the pendant back to the shop.

Since Lelouch was a suspicious person by nature, he managed to work out a very reasonable deal with the manager. He would pay one-third of the engraved pendant's complete price now, then the second week he would pay the second portion of the price, and the final payment would be once he came into the shop to obtain his engraved pendant.

The manager agreed easily since it was a very reasonable deal and Lelouch had proven that he had the necessary money to pay the full price for the heart shaped pendant after it was engraved.

After finishing his meeting with the manager, Lelouch had met up with Milly and Nunnally once again. He had found that Milly had picked out a small pair of earrings to go with her pendant and had been looking for him so they could leave after purchasing her new jewelry. He quickly did so, eager to leave the shop so he could try and speed up the ending of the shopping trip.

As the three Ashford Academy students were passing by an electronics shop that had televisions inside its windows, Lelouch, Nunnally, and Milly all heard an announcement being made by a man known as Jeremiah Gottwald. They stopped and turned their attention to the televisions in the window.

Jeremiah began his speech with a shocking statement to those who hadn't known beforehand. "Prince Clovis has been murdered!" The entire area around Lelouch had gone silent save for the sound of cars on the streets at the statement. "He fought for peace and justice against all of the Elevens," the Margrave declared, causing Lelouch to silently snort at the statement. If Clovis had truly fought for peace he wouldn't have ordered the Shinjuku Massacre. The man's speech continued as the camera moved in for a close-up. "He died a martyr!" Lelouch had to restrain his laughter as the man's speech made Clovis out to be some sort of messiah. "We must all bury our sorrow, and carry on his will." Gottwald said solemnly.

Suddenly the screen cut out with a newswoman replacing the Margrave. "We interrupt this broadcast with breaking news." She declared. "The man suspected as the murderer has been captured."

Lelouch's eyes widened as he took in the sight of his first and best friend on the television dressed in the same clothing they had found C.C. in, indicating his status as a prisoner. He could no longer hear the sounds of anything surrounding him; everything was blotted out with a single thought filled with relief and happiness that raced through his mind.

'_Suzaku… He's alive!_'

* * *

**Author's Note: Whew! Finally, I got my fourth chapter of Zero's Revolution done! I hope you all enjoyed it, and I hope I made it short enough to not be overbearing and long enough to be enjoyed.**

**For those wondering about the jewelry shop, I made it up. I just picked the first name that came to mind and tacked on the word Jewelers at the end. The jewelry I described is something that I could definitely see Milly picking out, and the pendant definitely seems like something Lelouch would get Nunnally for her birthday.**

**Also, I realize that some of the times are slightly different, for example, I merged two days into one and I made Orange give Clovis' eulogy in the later afternoon/early evening, but I had wanted to take some liberties and combine the two days into one to make the story run smoother. If you want you can just consider this part of the butterfly effect.**

**I hope that Milly's fans enjoyed my little teaser of a possible relationship between her and Lelouch, but I still haven't completely made up my mind when it comes to the pairings for Lelouch just yet. There are just so many options for him, and he just _had_ to go and kill himself for world peace without picking any of them. (Note: That last part was a joke.) Although, considering the fact that he could still be alive, Lelouch may have picked C.C., but the ending is just too damn ambiguous.**

**I'm a fan of Suzaku and Euphemia so I will definitely be incorporating that into this story since, despite their naivety, the two of them are very sweet together.**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed my newest chapter.**

**Now, Lelouch vi Britannia commands you, REVIEW!**

**Draconias Over and Out.**


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